


Hold on to me

by Littleredridinghunter



Series: Actor Stiles [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Actor Stiles, Alpha Derek, BAMF Stiles, Deputy Derek, Derek is a Failwolf, Hurt Stiles, Insecure Stiles Stilinski, Jealous Derek, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Shapeshifting, Stiles-centric, Tattooed Stiles Stilinski, lots of misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-02
Updated: 2017-04-02
Packaged: 2018-10-14 03:03:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 68,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10527498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Littleredridinghunter/pseuds/Littleredridinghunter
Summary: Picks up three months after the events of 'Let me run away' - I'd advise reading that one first!Derek and Stiles are finally together, finally a couple. When Stiles leaves town to film Spider-Man it spells all kind of trouble for the pair and the rest of the pack.Can they survive? Can their relationship?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Finally finished this one! Although my original plan was to start on the sequel to 'can't rely on me' I kind of have had another idea and I'm going to start writing that one first. But, once I've done that one, definitely starting on the sequel!
> 
> This is the sequel to 'let me run away' you could probably read it alone, although I'd still suggest reading it first because otherwise there might be a few points that might not make sense.
> 
> Stiles gets hurt a lot, as per usual in my stories, but he does get a happy ending so don't panic too much!
> 
> The Sheriff is still called John for consistency, (let me run away was written before we found out his name was Noah!)
> 
> I'm not planning on writing any more in this series, leaving it where it is for the time being. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy it!

Three months after Derek had finally told Stiles exactly how he felt about him they decided to move in together. In all honesty, Stiles spent most of his down time at the Hale house, as did John and the rest of the pack, pretty much all of them were living there now, John still lived at his own house, but he still had a room there to stay over some nights. Stiles liked it there because it was quiet and secluded and most importantly private property. That meant that when reporters decided to get a little too nosy they risked the chance of being arrested for trespassing by the Sheriff, who just happened to be there. Stiles preferred the option of them running into werewolves and watching as they pooed their pants, Derek was grateful that they hadn’t had to deal with that just yet, hopefully never. 

Stiles was doing a lot better than he had being doing, at first, the adjustment to the extra power he’d acquired from Monica had taken some getting used to, whenever Stiles was angry he’d cause a lightning storm which Derek had to admit was oddly terrifying and arousing at the same time, especially when Stiles’ anger was directed at a threat to their pack. Stiles was dealing with it a lot better now, when everything was getting a bit much he’d go out into the woods to meditate, which was something Derek never thought he’d ever see, and return hours later looking a lot more relaxed and no lightning or thunder in sight. 

It was kind of amazing to wake up every morning and feel the house filled with their pack, to wake up and see Stiles still sleeping peacefully next to him. They hadn’t had sex yet and that was fine with Derek, well, no, maybe not completely fine, he wanted it so badly, but Stiles wasn’t ready yet and that meant Derek would wait until he was, he wouldn’t even suggest it, he’d wait for Stiles to do that. There was still plenty of kissing and cuddling and laughing and smiling and Stiles was happy which made Derek glow with pride, but he wasn’t ready for sex and Derek didn’t mind waiting if it meant that Stiles would be happy when they did decide to do it.

Stiles had finally agreed to get an agent, Rick Ness, after a lot of suggestions from Jason. Derek had mentioned the benefits several times and Stiles had eventually agreed; it would be nice to not have to deal with a lot of the phone calls he got asking him to attend parties or openings. He’d had several people offer their services before finally deciding on Rick, considering the guy had dull brown hair and empty brown eyes, generally pretty easy to forget, he was more than a bit smarmy and Stiles didn’t really like him that much, but he was supposedly very good at his job and Stiles decided to give him a try. 

Rick was apparently very good at his job, especially since a week after he started Stiles was offered the role of Spiderman in the new movies. Stiles had been so excited, jumping up and down like a puppy, running around the house screaming that he was going to be Spiderman and hugging Derek so tightly he thought Stiles might break something, all in all, he was like a kid at Christmas. It wasn’t until Rick informed Stiles that the film was being shot in Washington that Stiles deflated.

“I can’t do that Derek. It’s too far away.”

“You can’t not do it Stiles.” Derek argued, “It’s too great of an opportunity, you have to go!” They’d gone back and forth for a few hours, including the entire pack in the decision, before Stiles finally agreed to do it, although he wasn’t as excited about it as he had been. The film was going to take six months, Derek wouldn’t be able to leave Beacon Hills, they couldn’t have both their Alpha and their Alpha’s true mate out of town. Not that Lydia wasn’t a brilliant second but it wouldn’t be good for them both to be away at the same time, which meant that Stiles and Derek wouldn’t be able to be together unless Stiles got time off from the shoot. 

“You can skype!” Derek argued, “You can skype twenty-four seven if you want, but you have to do this. I won’t let you give it up.” 

Rick had grinned happily when Stiles had said he was going to do it, clapping him on the shoulder and telling him he’d get everything sorted for him so they could get going straight away.

Within two weeks Stiles was flying out of town, kissing Derek happily, hugging the rest of the pack goodbye and finally leaving. Telling Scott to behave at Deaton’s, congratulating Allison on her acceptance for training to become a trauma surgeon. Lydia was at college, Stiles telling her to keep up the hard work so she would get top of her class, Lydia insisted it wouldn’t be an issue. Boyd was training at a mechanic’s in town, Stiles told him he’d have to fix the jeep up for him once he had some free time. Isaac and Jackson were both at college, taking several classes, Jackson to train to be a lawyer, Isaac working in catering. They all had their futures set out ahead of them, Derek had never been prouder of all of them.

Derek wouldn’t admit to anyone that Stiles leaving made it feel like his heart was breaking even though he’d pushed Stiles to do this.

That was four months ago.

Now Rick was stood in Derek’s office in the rebuilt Hale home, holding out a handful of photos and bringing Derek’s world crashing down around him. 

“You’ve had them verified?” He asked. Stiles had skyped yesterday evening, laughing and joking and telling him how much he loved him, how much he missed him. Derek felt like screaming or crying, he wasn’t sure which.

“Yes.” Rick replied, “I wanted to be sure before I brought these to you.” He paused, looking at the ground guiltily, “Look, these came to me, not the press, and I’m going to do my best to keep them out of the news, we don’t need the bad publicity, but I thought you should know. You can get them verified if you want?” Rick suggested. 

Derek stared at the pictures again, stared at Stiles kissing another man, his co-star in the films, the man who Stiles whined about being a pain in his ass all the time. Stiles was kissing him. It wasn’t a peck on the cheek, or even a friendly hug, but a full on, tongue involving, kiss, in the middle of the park, in broad daylight, where anyone could see them. It was like Stiles hadn’t even thought about him. His heart felt like it was shattering into a million pieces, he could barely breathe, Stiles was supposed to be his true mate and he’d done this to him.

“Thanks for bringing this to me.” Derek said, gripping the photos tight in his hand.

“I’m sorry.” Rick said quietly, “I know how much this must be upsetting you, but you had a right to know.” 

“I know.” Derek said, “I appreciate it.” He said, feeling nothing of the sort. 

“Okay, well, I’ll leave you to it.” Rick said, already backing out of the room. Derek leaned against the bookshelf in the room, trying to catch his breath, tears running unchecked down his cheeks and the photos clutched tightly in his hands. He wasn’t sure how long he sat there before the rest of the pack decided to invade his privacy, John looking at him with worry as he pulled the photos from his hand.

“This can’t be right.” John said stunned. “These must be faked.” Lydia snatched them from his hands, the pack one-by-one looking at the photos and settling into silence. 

“They’re faked.” Lydia said forcefully, “They must be.”

“I’ll get them checked.” John said, unable to believe that Stiles would do this, he loved Derek, he was crazy about him, there was no way that Stiles would do this. 

“Rick already had them verified.” Derek said his voice cracking and breaking and more tears streaming down his cheeks.

“He’s lying.” Scott said, “He must be lying. These can’t be right.” 

“He wasn’t lying.” Derek said, “I listened to his heartbeat, I know he wasn’t.” 

“But…” Jason trailed off, this couldn’t be right.

“I need to talk to Stiles.” Derek said slowly. “Can you…I just…. I need to talk to him privately.” 

“I’m going to get these verified.” John said, disappearing from the room. The rest of the pack looked at him with worry before eventually leaving the room and shutting the doors behind them. Derek took a few minutes to gather himself before going to his iPad and skyping Stiles. It rang for several minutes before cutting out, he wasn’t answering. Derek decided to call him instead.

“Hey gorgeous!” Stiles said happily as soon as the phone connected and Derek tried not to burst into tears.

“Stiles.” He said in greeting.

“What’s wrong?” Stiles said quickly, “You sound upset, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Derek replied shakily.

“Are you sure?” 

“Yes. I’m fine Stiles.” 

“Okay, well, I’m due back on set in a couple of minutes, so I can’t talk long.”

“This won’t take long.” Derek said.

“That sounds serious.” Stiles replied.

“It is.” Derek replied, “I saw some pictures today, some very disturbing ones actually.”

“Of what?”

“Of you with your tongue down Ed’s throat.” Derek said, trying to sound as calm as possible.

“What?” Stiles said quickly, “What? How?” 

“I don’t think that matters Stiles. I think the issue here is that you were kissing another man.”

“It was an accident Derek, I swear, a one-off. I didn’t mean to, I’m just, I messed up. I’m sorry.” Stiles said tearfully.

“It’s over Stiles.”

“Please Derek. Please.” 

“No. It’s over. I’m sorry.” 

“Derek, you can’t. Please.” Stiles begged. Derek hung up the phone before he had the chance to change his mind. He couldn’t believe this, he thought that maybe Stiles would deny it, but he didn’t, he’d admitted it straight out, he’d cheated on Derek and Derek couldn’t breathe. It was all over.

Stiles had just finished on set for the day, he’d been working hard all week, Ed had been winding him up, the guy was such a pain in the ass, he kept going on about how Stiles was messing up all the time, he wasn’t, it was that Ed kept messing up the scenes, almost on purpose. And when they weren’t shooting Ed was going on about how important he was to the movie, that they couldn’t make it without him. Stiles wasn’t even going to mention the fact that he was the one playing Spiderman. Apparently, Ed was just as rude to all the crew, or so they told Stiles when they chatted around the coffee table. 

He’d learned by now not to listen to a word Ed said, or at least take it with a pinch of salt. He’d be glad when this film was over, Ed’s character got killed off, so even if they decided to do a sequel he wouldn’t be coming back. That wasn’t in the original script, but after the director got so fed up of Ed’s behaviour he managed to have it written in and told Ed it would be critical to the storyline. Stiles figured maybe that was part of the reason why Ed had become even more unbearable recently.

He missed Derek, a lot, he couldn’t wait to get finished and get home, they only had another eight weeks to go and then he could go home and spend days lying in bed with Derek. 

Plus, there was his other little side project that he’d been working on, which, that, if it worked, would change all their lives. It had taken him a couple of months to work out how to cast the spell, he’d done it now a few times and had pretty much got it sorted, he knew a few more attempts and it would be working perfectly. As soon as he could cast it perfectly then the possibilities would be endless and Stiles couldn’t wait to put it to good use, to help others, and maybe himself a little bit if he was honest, he would be able to go home and see the pack every night. He was working on that project right now actually. He’d come into the bar about twenty minutes ago and had been chatting quietly to the woman behind the bar, Sasha, ever since, Stiles thought she might be slowly coming around to the idea.

His phone lit up with an incoming call and he grinned when he saw Derek’s name flash up, motioning to Sasha that he’d just be a minute.

“Hey!” He said in greeting.

“Stiles.” Derek said, he sounded serious. 

“Are you okay? Is the pack okay? Are you all alright?” Stiles said, taking in the tone of his voice, already worrying how he was going to get home in time to help with whatever the problem was, the spell wasn’t perfect yet, he couldn’t risk getting himself lost instead of home if it was an emergency.

“Yeah, we’re fine Stiles. Don’t worry.” Stiles let out the breath he’d been holding, they were fine, everything was fine.

“Okay, good, I can’t wait to tell you about this new spell I’ve learned, I’ve nearly got it right, you’re going to be amazed.”

“Listen, I need to talk to you.” Derek said interrupting and Stiles frowned, that sounded really serious. “Stiles, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking,” He paused, “Things between us, look, there’s no easy way to say this Stiles, but, it’s over.” 

“What?” Stiles said stunned, unable to believe that Derek was saying this.

“I mean it, it’s over Stiles. Me, you, it’s not working.” Derek said seriously and Stiles could feel the tears welling up in his eyes, he tried to fight them and keep his voice steady.

“Derek, I don’t understand. I mean, we’re true mates, we’re supposed to be together.” 

“No Stiles, it’s over, I only said that because I wanted to have sex with you, you’re just like any other potential mate to me, but you took too long to be ready.”

“Look, whatever I did, whatever you need me to do, I’ll fix this, if you want that,” He paused, was he really ready for sex? “If that’s what you want, then we can do.” Stiles begged, trying to ignore the fact that he felt like he couldn’t breathe, that there was no air in his lungs, that Derek didn’t want to be with him, that he’d made it up about being his true mate, “I’ll get the next flight home and I’ll fix this. Please. Derek. Just give me a chance to fix this.” Derek sighed heavily down the phone.

“You can’t fix it Stiles. You are the problem.”

“What? You don’t mean that. Derek. Please.” 

“I don’t want to be with you Stiles, why would I? Why is that so hard to believe? It’s over because you aren’t what I want. You’re annoying, you’re loud, you’re stubborn and argumentative, and so frustrating. You’re so dramatic too, that always winds me up, you always have to make a big deal out of everything, always causing a scene. Not just for me, but for the pack too, they are all as fed up with you as I am. I wanted to believe that I could love you, because that’s what my wolf wanted, but I don’t. I don’t. And I can’t force myself to.”

“You’re lying.” Stiles said, tears now running down his cheeks and his chest aching painfully, “You’re lying, you have to be lying. You love me.”

“I don’t Stiles. I’m sorry but I don’t. I don’t want to hurt you, but I can’t stay with you just to keep you happy. I don’t love you Stiles. It’s over.” Derek said finally before hanging up the phone. Stiles stared at it in silence for several minutes before calling his dad, he’d know what the hell was going on.

“Dad?” Stiles said as soon as the call connected, “Dad, listen, Derek just called me and told me it’s over. Something is going on, is he being threatened or something? Is there someone there making him say that?”

“Stiles,” His dad sighed wearily, “Derek told me he was going to call you. I did suggest he come see you in person but you know he can’t leave Beacon Hills at the moment.” 

“Dad, tell me it’s not true.”

“I can’t Stiles.” John sighed and Stiles felt like he’d been punched in the stomach, he couldn’t breathe, it hurt so much. “I’m sorry kiddo, but it’s over. He doesn’t want to be with you.” Stiles hung up the phone with numb fingers, calling Scott next, needing someone to tell him this wasn’t true.

“I heard Stiles.” Scott said when he answered. “Look, it’s not his fault, these things just happen sometimes.”

“What’s not his fault? Scott what’s going on?” 

“Derek and his new girlfriend.” Scott said and Stiles almost dropped the phone in shock. “They’ve been seeing each other a couple of weeks, she’s another potential mate for him, she’s nice Stiles, she’s good for him.”

“I’m good for him.” Stiles muttered weakly.

“I’m sorry Stiles. I am. But Derek is our Alpha and I’m sticking by him. The whole pack will. Maybe you should just stay away for a while. Until, you know, Derek wants to see you.” 

“Scott, this is wrong, this can’t be right. We’re mates.” Stiles insisted.

“Maybe, but he’s got a bigger pull to Leanne, you should stay away, from him, from all of us. Let us get used to this.” Scott said and Stiles ended the call, unable to believe this was happening, tears spilling from his eyes onto the bar, feeling like a hole had just been carved into his chest, unable to catch a breath. This couldn’t be happening; this must be a bad dream.

Sasha placed a shot of whisky in front of him on the bar, stupid werewolves with their super hearing.

“It’ll help with the shock.” She muttered and Stiles downed it instantly, not caring that he wasn’t twenty-one yet, his mind racing, his heart breaking. Stiles had three more shots before excusing himself. “If that thing you were talking about earlier, if you want to talk about it again, I’ll still be here.” She said and Stiles nodded, he should be happy, glad that his idea was becoming a possibility, instead he just felt hollow inside. Derek didn’t love him. It was over.

He spent the whole night staring at the wall of his hotel room wondering what the hell had happened, what had gone wrong, how he could fix it, Derek had never mentioned that he wanted sex, maybe if Stiles went home, if he offered to have sex with him, maybe it would change his mind. He called every member of the pack, begging them to just explain, to let him talk to Derek, to please let him fix this, they all told him to stay away, that they needed space (Lydia), needed time (Erica), needed him to leave them alone (Jackson) even his dad told him to just leave it, that Derek was happy and to stay away from them. Eventually they stopped answering their phones and Stiles left voicemail after voicemail, begging them to just talk to him please.

“Enough Stiles.” Derek said at five in the morning, “You can’t fix this. It’s over. Leave the pack alone. Leave me alone.”

“I’m coming home.”

“No. I don’t want you here.” Derek growled. “Just stay the hell away from Beacon Hills.” He snarled before hanging up the phone. 

Stiles had stopped crying; he didn’t think he could cry anymore. His eyes were still red and his mind still reeling when he arrived at the studio the next morning.

“Stiles!” Rick called happily once he saw him, before he came to a complete stop, “What’s happened? You look like shit!” Stiles rolled his eyes, Rick was so overdramatic sometimes. He sunk into the make-up chair and saw his reflection for the first time, okay so maybe Rick wasn’t being overdramatic. “What’s going on buddy? You okay?”

“I’m fine.” Stiles replied, picking up his script and studying the lines, he had to have something else to concentrate on, he couldn’t think about Derek, about the pack, he had to concentrate. Rick looked at him suspiciously but nodded before wandering off. Apparently, it was pretty normal for agents to hang around on set in case their clients were unhappy with anything, Rick didn’t have much to do most days, other than hang around Stiles’ chair and ask him if he needed anything. Ed’s agent constantly looked stressed and was running around hectically most days of shooting. 

“Everything okay Stiles?” Holly said as she started to apply his make-up, taking in the red rimmed eyes and the black shadows under his eyes.

“Yeah,” He muttered, “Sorry, I’m not giving you an easy job today, I had a rough night.” 

“I can tell.” She replied, touching his shoulder gently, “You know, I’m here, if you need to talk.” 

“I’m fine Holly, but thanks.” He added, he always liked to get to know the teams behind these things, it helped to know who would be the best to speak to in different situations. Holly nodded and got to work while Stiles sat in silence, trying to read his lines, forgetting just for a moment that Derek didn’t love him, then it would hit him again and he’d feel like he couldn’t breathe. 

“You’re looking like shit today Stilinski.” Ed said as he sat down in the chair next to Stiles, Stiles didn’t reply, instead choosing to read his script again. “When you’ve finished with him you need to fix me, my eyebrows are completely unruly.” Ed said, not turning to look at Holly and staring at himself in the mirror. Stiles stared at him in disbelief, Holly echoing his look, one that said ‘Are you serious?’, he could not deal with Ed’s crap today.

Holly shooed him away a few minutes later and Stiles went gratefully, Ed reminded him too much of Jackson before he mellowed. It wound him up. He got suited up, trying to find some level of excitement that he was wearing the Spiderman costume, instead he just felt numb. He needed to concentrate, to focus, to hold it together.

The day passed in a blur, if anyone asked him later on, he wouldn’t be able to tell you anything that he’d said or done that day, although evidently it was good enough for the director which was all Stiles could hope for. 

He spent the evening trying to call the pack but it didn’t end well, most of his calls going straight to voicemail, meaning they were blocking his number. He squared his shoulders, swiped at his eyes to stop the tears and turned his attention to his other project. If the pack wanted him to stay away from them then he would, he took off the charm he had hung around his neck, he didn’t want them to know how badly he was hurting right now. He couldn’t think about it, he refused to think about it.

He knew that his body was exhausted but his mind couldn’t rest, he couldn’t shut down, he needed to work. 

Four days after his world crumbled Stiles was driving around an abandoned housing estate at two in the morning. He’d managed to get through the days by throwing himself into filming, the director, Joe, even commenting on his extra enthusiasm and what a great job he was doing. His nights were spent trying to track down the woman that had already killed three children in the past six months until his body was too exhausted and he slept fitfully for a few hours, the police hadn’t had any luck finding her and Stiles thought it would keep him busy trying to solve it. 

He knew that all the crew were looking at him with worry, all of them noticing the shadows forming under his eyes, the fact that he only smiled for the cameras otherwise he was sat off to the side of the studios, studying the few facts he had on the case, his face seemingly permanently frozen in sorrow.

He was sure that she’d be in this area and soon, going on the information from her other victim’s crime scenes, the pattern that was emerging, he just had to be vigilant and he’d find her. He was exhausted, his magic the only thing keeping him going by now, but he couldn’t rest, couldn’t close his eyes without seeing Derek’s face, his words haunting him, he didn’t love him, he didn’t want him.

By four in the morning he was considering giving up for the night, he needed to get a least a few hours’ sleep if he had any chance of doing the stunts on set later. It was just as he was starting his car to go back to the hotel that he saw her, dragging two young children behind her, their hands bound with rope and duct tape across their mouths. Stiles dropped his keys in his haste to get out of the car and go after them.

He pulled out his phone and called the police department quickly, this wasn’t supernatural, this was humans and he needed the human police to help him.

“Hello, Washington Police Department.”

“Hi, my name is Stiles Stilinski, I’m at,” He glanced at the nearest house number, “two twenty-seven black ash street,”

“Stiles Stilinski? Like the actor?” The officer replied.

“Yep, that’s me.” Stiles said as he dashed down the street.

“Oh, my god, I loved that film you were in last year, you are awesome, aren’t you supposed to be shooting a film in Washington? I swear I saw you in one of the tabloids the other day?”

“Actually, bigger problem,” Stiles said interrupting the guy, “Look, I just saw a woman taking two kids into an old house, she had them tied up and duct tape over their mouths.” The police officer sobered.

“Okay sir, you need to stay where you are and wait for us to arrive, please can you repeat the address.”

“She took them into house two thirty-nine black ash street.” Stiles repeated, taking light steps to the back door, hearing the sounds of muffled screams from inside. “I can’t wait. They’re in danger. You need to hurry.”

“Sir, Stiles, you need to stay where you are.” 

“I can’t.” Stiles whispered, peering through the back door, seeing the woman brandishing a large knife and the children looking at her with pure terror in their eyes. “She’s got a knife.” 

“Do not enter that building.” The office said.

“Get your units out here and I won’t have to.” Stiles retorted.

“They’re five minutes away.” Stiles looked again, the young boy had been tied to the leg of a table, keeping him in place, however the woman and the young girl had disappeared into another room, he needed to get into that house.

“I’m going in.” 

“You can’t.” 

“I’m not going to let her kill them. Just hurry.” He hissed, wincing as the door creaked open slightly as he entered the room, the phone still in his hand so the police could hear anything. The young boy looked at him panicked as Stiles crept over to him. “Hey,” Stiles said, peeling the duct tape slowly from his mouth, “Hey, it’s okay, it’s going to be okay.”

“She’s got my sister.” The kid sobbed and Stiles pressed a finger to his lips.

“Okay, that’s alright,” He reassured him quietly, undoing the ropes, “what’s your name?”

“James.” The boy whispered in reply

“Okay James, just listen to me, I’m going to untie these ropes and then I’m going to get your sister. You’re going to go wait outside, the police are going to be here in a minute.”

“I can’t leave her.” James sniffled.

“You’re not. I’m going to get her. But you need to be really brave for me and go outside to the main road and wait for the police, then tell them where to come, can you do that for me?” 

“I’m scared.”

“I know.” Stiles said, getting the final knot undone, “I’ll tell you a secret, I’m scared too. But I’ve found that when you’re most scared it’s when you get to find out just how brave you are.” Stiles whispered, checking over his shoulder to make sure the woman hadn’t reappeared. 

“Okay.” James whispered.

“That’s good James, that’s really good. Okay, now you go outside and I’ll get your sister and be out in a few minutes.” James headed towards the door and Stiles raised his phone to his ear. “Did you get that?”

“Yes Stiles. I heard.”

“How far out are your units?”

“Three minutes. You should get out too.”

“Not if she still has the girl. She could kill her.”

“Stiles, it’s not safe.”

“Wouldn’t be the most dangerous thing I’ve ever done.” Stiles whispered sarcastically as he headed towards the back rooms. He peered around the next corner, the woman had her back to him, a large knife held in her hand, the young girl sobbing on the floor, a large cut on her arm and blood dripping into a bowl below her, the woman looked to be going for a final blow and Stiles knew he couldn’t wait.

Stiles took a deep breath before rushing forward and grabbing her arm, hoping to force her to drop the knife.

“Go!” Stiles shouted to the girl, dragging her to her feet as he shoved the woman backwards. He felt a sharp stinging in his arm and turned just in time to avoid the knife being driven into his chest, blood spilling from the cut on his arm. “Shit!” He cursed as he dodged the blade, jumping backwards, pushing the girl towards the door and relaxing just for a moment when she ran towards the door at the back of the house. 

“You ruined my spell.” The woman growled and Stiles looked at her in shock, nothing he’d read had indicated to him that the woman was actually a caster, he’d been under the impression she was completely human. She charged straight at him and Stiles dodged out of reach every time, wondering where the hell this police unit was. He was distracted for only a moment when the knife sunk into the top of his arm. 

“Jesus!” Stiles cried out in pain, pulling the knife from his arm and staring at the blood covering the blade. He woman charged at him again, her hand clenched into a fist and aiming straight for his face. He didn’t even realize the blade had sliced into her skin until it was too late, her eyes going wide with shock as it buried deep into her chest, her fist opening and blowing a powder into his face with her last breath.

Stiles stared in shock as her body dropped to the floor before he started to cough, his vision going black, his knees buckling, dropping him to the ground next to the dead woman.

“Stiles!” He could hear the police officer calling his name down the phone but he couldn’t reply, his throat closing up, he couldn’t breathe. “Stiles! They’re coming, just hang on. Can you talk? Talk to me Stiles.” He coughed instead, concentrating his magic on forcing whatever this powder was out of his system, he could hear sirens now, he knew the police were close and he thought about how relieved he was that he’d saved those kids as everything started to fade to black around him.

Rick was fast asleep when his phone started ringing, interrupting his sleep, he grabbed at it blurrily seeing an unknown number on the screen, he half considered not answering it, it was too early. 

“Rick Ness speaking.” He answered, hoping he didn’t sound like he’d just woken up.

“This is Officer Mitchell. I’m calling in regards to Stiles Stilinski.”

“Stiles?” Rick said in confusion, suddenly fully awake, “What’s going on? Is he alright?”

“He’s been taken to Olympic Memorial Hospital. I’d recommend coming immediately.”

“I’m on my way.” He said, scrambling out of bed, throwing on some clothes and rushing out of the door. He didn’t know what the hell had happened but if Stiles had made a mess of his plans then he was going to be seriously pissed.

“Ed!” Ed’s agent was on the phone and it was much too early for Ed to be up yet, he needed his beauty sleep if he was going to be able to act to the best of his ability. “Are you listening to me?”

“No Gary, I’m not. Now, unless you want me to take the day off shooting today I strongly suggest you let me go back to sleep.”

“There isn’t going to be any filming today!” Gary said exasperated. “Stiles has been taken to the hospital, it’s going to be all over the news any minute.”

“Which is my problem why?” Ed groaned, like he gave a shit what happened to that annoying little brat, thinking he was so important just because he had the role of Spiderman, Ed could do that role in his sleep.

“Because in a few minutes all anyone is going to be talking about is Stiles. You show up at the hospital, looking worried, and everyone will want to talk to you, to hear your side of things, your name would be the one splashed all over the news, actor rushes to co-stars bedside, that kind of thing.”

“It would be nice to have a few pictures taken I suppose.” Ed said, thinking it over.

“The publicity for you would be great.”

“Okay, I’ll be there in an hour.” Ed said, getting out of bed and knowing he needed to dress very specifically, he needed to look like he’d dashed out of bed to get to Stiles’ side, but he couldn’t look like a hobo. This would take a bit of work.

“You need to turn on the news!” Erica said as she dashed down the stairs, the past few days they’d avoided the television, knowing that stories on Stiles just tended to pop up at random intervals and it would just upset Derek all over again. When John had come across to the house two days ago with the confirmation that the photos were real Derek had slumped to the ground, the final nail in the coffin, and stayed there for hours, the whole pack holding him, trying to support him, but not being able to do anything of the sort. Of course Derek had known that they were real, Stiles had admitted it, but he’d somehow hoped that the photos had been faked, that this was all some kind of misunderstanding. Instead it just drove the point home, they were over.

Scott had called Stiles, begged him to come home, that he could fix this, that he could sort things with Derek if he just came home. Stiles had told him that he needed space, needed time to try and sort his head out. Scott had told him that it was a weak excuse and if he still loved Derek to get his ass home now. Stiles had hung up the phone and they hadn’t heard from him since, his phone now just going to voicemail, as if he was blocking their numbers.

What was happening right now though couldn’t be avoided however, they needed to know about this, Derek needed to know about this. 

“What’s going on?” Isaac asked, looking at her sleepily as he appeared in the doorway. Erica grabbed the remote and turned on the television just as John rushed through the front door.

“Have you seen!?” 

“Seen what?” Jason asked as they all turned towards the television, Derek hovering in the kitchen doorway, his face still drawn and pale, clenching a dishcloth in his hands. 

“…spotted a woman leading two bound children into a house and attempted to rescue them. At present, we don’t know what condition Stiles is in, although we have been informed that both children did escape with minor injuries and the attacker died at the scene.”

“What’s going on?” Lydia asked, Erica shushed her as they continued to watch the report.

“We’ll shortly be playing a recording of the emergency call, please be advised that it may be distressing to younger listeners.”

Erica flipped to another channel.

“Actor Stiles Stilinski has been rushed to hospital in the early hours of this morning after rescuing two young children from a woman attempting to murder them. It has been suggested that this woman is linked to the murders of three other young children in the past six months, police should confirm this for us shortly.”

“Do we know which hospital?” Derek asked in panic as John pulled out his phone.

“I’ll call Rick now.” He said dialling the number as Derek watched on in horror. 

“I’ll look at getting some flights booked for you.” Lydia said quickly. “Why the hell didn’t we feel this? Surely the charm should have activated and let us know?”

“Not if he took it off.” Derek said, “He’s done it before, when he knew there was going to be danger, he didn’t want us worrying about him.”

“And you let him?” Scott said thunderstruck.

“Does anyone let Stiles do anything?” Derek sighed, “He does what he wants, when he wants, there’s nothing we can do about it.”

“We’re still waiting for an update on Stiles’ condition, we’ve been informed that he was stabbed on scene and also exposed to some kind of toxic powder. We’ll be here keeping you informed with all the most up to date information. In the meantime, here’s the recording of the emergency call that Stiles made to the police department just before the attack.”

“Rick!” John said in relief. “Thank God, is Stiles okay? It’s all over the news!”

“Stiles is fine.” Rick’s voice drifted back. “He was stabbed in the arm; the doctors have already patched it up.” Derek relaxed in relief.

“What about the toxin he was exposed to?”

“From what I understand, it’s nothing serious, the Doctors have said he’ll probably be allowed to go home today.” 

“Why didn’t you call me?” John demanded, worry still evident on his face.

“Stiles, well, he asked me not to, he didn’t want you to fly out here for nothing.” Rick said.

“Are you kidding me!? He’s my son, of course I’ll be there. Lydia is going to book us some flights in a moment, just tell me which hospital.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Rick replied nervously.

“Why not?” John said, glaring at the phone.

“Well, erm, you see, Stiles said he doesn’t want to see any of you, at least not at the moment, he said he needs time to sort his head out, decide what he wants to do in regards to coming home and stuff, and also, Ed’s on his way here. He’ll be here any minute, there’s no easy way to say this, you should hear it from Stiles really, but they seem to be making a go of things and I don’t want there to be a scene, you know, if Derek came and saw that, I wouldn’t want to see him even more upset.”

“Oh.” John said in shock, looking at Derek with worry. Derek seemed to have shut down completely, his eyes fixed on the television screen which was now showing Ed getting out of a car, looking slightly rumpled, like he’d only just been woken up, and yet still looking a lot more put together than Derek ever did that early in the morning. 

“Ed!” Reporters called out, “Have you heard what’s happened? Do you know how Stiles is doing!?”

Ed paused slightly for the reporters, looking seriously worried, but still managing to flash a smile in the direction of the cameras.

“I don’t know how Stiles is doing just yet, but I fully intend to find out what happened and how he’s feeling. What I do know is that Stiles would be telling you all to get a grip, that’s he’s fine, and that you shouldn’t be wasting your time out here waiting for him.” Ed said.

“Are you worried about Stiles Ed?”

“Of course I am, the guy is great, we’d all be lost without him I’m sure. I’ll let Stiles know you are all asking after him and wishing him well.” Ed continued as he rushed towards the hospital doors.

Erica turned the television off quickly, looking at Derek with guilty eyes. 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” She muttered but Derek shook his head, it wasn’t her fault.

“Don’t worry about it.” He said sadly, trying not to think about the fact it was obvious that Stiles and Ed were a couple now. Well, if Stiles thought he was just going to hang around and wait for him to figure out what he wanted then he was very wrong, Derek wasn’t going to be treated like this, if Stiles could move on so easily then so could Derek.

Stiles opened his eyes slowly, there was a beeping coming from next to him which he assumed meant he was in a hospital, his chest still felt like it was on fire but his magic seemed to be holding it at bay, he forced more magic to focus on the poison and felt it recede even more, although it took a lot out of him to do it.

“Stiles.” A woman’s voice said, a doctor was striding towards him with a grimace of her lips. “I’m Doctor Fox, how are you feeling?”

“Hurts.” Stiles said, his voice cracking slightly as he pressed a palm against his chest.

“You’ve been exposed to a toxin.” 

“I know.” Stiles croaked.

“We’re flushing it from your system now. You should be able to go home later today.”

“Okay.” Stiles said, letting his eyes slip closed slightly, concentrating on getting his magic to try and speed up the process of ridding the toxin from his body.

“Stiles, buddy, how are you feeling?” Rick said as he approached the bed, Stiles glanced up at him.

“Have you spoken to my dad?” Stiles asked nervously and Rick sighed.

“Yeah, I gave him a call.” 

“You don’t sound happy?”

“Why didn’t you tell me you and Derek split up?” Rick asked and Stiles fought back the wave of nausea he felt with those words.

“What did my dad say?”

“He asked how you were, I told him that you were sleeping but the Doctors seemed pretty confident you were going to be fine. He told me about you and Derek, he said he’d fly out if it was necessary, but that he didn’t think it was, and then he asked me,” Rick sighed heavily, looking at Stiles with sorrow in his eyes, “he asked me if I thought this was some kind of ploy to try and win Derek back, to make him feel guilty and to come back to you. I told him it was nothing of the sort, that you were being a hero, that you saved two kids from certain death, but I don’t think he believed me, he said that you were probably hoping Derek would come running, but that he isn’t going to, and to please stop doing stupid stuff that only makes things worse.”

“I didn’t…” Stiles started to protest, how could his dad possibly think that?

“I know.” Rick said placatingly, “Look, I tried to persuade him to come out but he says he’s busy, says he still needs time to adjust to things. Stiles, I don’t know everything that goes on in your life, or with your friends, but you seemed like one big happy family, your dad is obviously really close with Derek and your other friends. I don’t know what happened between you two, but your dad said to just stay away from them for a while, give them some space.” Stiles could see the genuine pain that Rick was in as he said this, like he really didn’t want to give this news to Stiles, especially not in his current state.

“Oh.” Stiles said quietly, his mind freezing in shock, unable to believe this, that his dad didn’t even want to see him. What if Rick was lying to him? He couldn’t believe that his dad wouldn’t want to see him right now. “Can you get my phone? I want to call him.”

“Yeah, sure Stiles.” Rick said, disappearing from the room and reappearing a few minutes later with Stiles’ phone. “You want me to stay?” 

“No.” Stiles said, “I’ll be fine. Thanks Rick.” He waited until he was sure Rick was out of the room and then he called his dads phone. 

“Stiles?” His voice came over the phone and Stiles fought back the tears.

“Hey dad, I was just calling to let you know I’m okay.”

“So Rick said. I’m glad to hear it wasn’t serious.”

“Yeah, me too, I didn’t even know she was a witch until she started going on about the spell she was trying to cast.” Stiles said forcing his voice to sound light and breezy and not like his heart was about to burst from his chest.

“Look, Stiles, I’m glad to hear you are okay kid, but what I said the other night still stands.”

“It’s not like I went there with the intention of getting stabbed dad.” Stiles said quickly, “I’m not even expecting you to come out here, I just, I thought you would be worried and I wanted to let you know I was okay.” The pain in his chest increased slightly and he had to concentrate his magic to force it to subside. 

“Stiles, I’m glad to hear you’re alright, but I meant it, right now we all need some distance, some time to adjust, to Derek and Leanne, I need you to stay away, okay?”

“Okay.” Stiles said, swallowing back a choked sob. “Yeah. I get it. I’m sorry. I’m done.” He said, staring in surprise when the phone cut off and his dad was gone. Rick came in ten minutes later, by which time Stiles had got himself back under control.

“Everything okay?” Rick asked and Stiles nodded, not trusting his voice right now. “There’s someone here to see you.” Rick added and Stiles glanced up to see Ed stood in the doorway, looking like something that smelt disgusting was being stuck under his nose. 

Ed was quite proud of himself, he thought he’d done quite a performance of making it looked like he actually cared about Stiles, frankly he couldn’t be bothered with any of it, but it was good publicity and that’s what mattered, it made him look like a concerned friend.

“Stilinski.” Ed said in greeting. “You’ve looked better.”

“Felt it too.” Stiles replied, doing his best to remain as civil as possible despite the fact his chest was aching awfully and his arm was throbbing. “What are you doing here?” Stiles asked in confusion.

“My agent told me to come down here looking worried and make the most of the publicity.”

“Nothing like being brutally honest.” Stiles murmured. 

“If you want brutal honesty, I don’t care if you live or die Stilinski. All I’m bothered about is making sure the film gets finished and I look good in it. If that means I have to pretend to give a shit about what happens to you then I’ll do it.” 

“You are all heart.” Stiles said, rolling his eyes slightly. 

“You can think what you want. So long as I come out of this looking like a caring considerate person I don’t care about anything else.” 

“And that’s about all I can take of you today Ed.” Stiles sighed, “Can you leave now?”

“Sure.” Ed grinned, “I’ll go reassure the press that you are doing fine.” Ed said, smirking as he left the room. Stiles rolled his eyes in exasperation, he could not deal with Ed right now.

When the hospital released him, eleven hours later, Stiles was exhausted, the toxin hadn’t been completely removed from his system, he was using as much magic as he could spare just to stop the pain in his chest. Doctor Fox assured him that it would take a few days before it was completely out of his system but she was happy enough that he went to the hotel and relaxed. 

When Stiles left the hospital, Rick by his side and a hoodie pulled up hiding him as much as possible, it was to hundreds of flashes going off in his face and reporters shouting his name. Stiles moved through them easily enough, heading towards the car at the back of the crowd, keeping his head down, not in any mood to answer their questions, just wanting to get home and rest. There were cameras going off in his face, one reporter almost hitting him in the face with a camera as he tried to get closer, Stiles managed to avoid being hit but only just, before he climbed into the car. Rick climbed in a moment after him and then they were leaving.

Stiles was back at work the next day, he just wanted this to be over, his chest still hurt and his arm ached but he needed to keep busy otherwise all he could think about was the pack and Derek and his dad and he couldn’t bear that.

His chest was still aching almost a week later and he decided he would go back to see Doctor Fox just as soon as he’d met with Sasha and convinced her to agree to the deal.

Thankfully it didn’t require much convincing, she pretty much confirmed with him that she was happy to go ahead as soon as he walked through the door, she’d obviously spent a lot of time thinking about it over the past week. 

He chatted through his plans with her, how it would work, what would be required from her to get it to work, before finally deciding that he needed to go to the hospital, his chest was really starting to throb again now and he needed to get it checked out as it seemed to be using all of his magic just to keep it as pain free as possible, that wasn’t normal. 

Dr Fox studied him for a few hours, looking at him with more and more concern as the time passed. 

“I’m not sure what’s going on Stiles, the toxin should have left your system by now.”

“But it hasn’t.” Stiles said.

“No. I’d like to run a few more tests.” Dr Fox said and Stiles nodded. 

“Whatever you need Doc.” Stiles said, hoping to keep this visit a bit more private than his previous one.

The next morning it was all over the papers that Stiles and Derek had split up, well, they were speculating, no-one had any official information, but they’d all noticed the fact that Derek hadn’t been at the hospital and hadn’t been around Stiles for months, some even speculated that it was a blossoming romance between Stiles and Ed that had brought an end to Sterek. Stiles couldn’t bear to read anymore after that. It was bad enough that they were over, bad enough that it still felt like a hole had been carved into his chest at the very thought of Derek, but now everyone knew, everyone would see just how broken he was. He wasn’t going to let them see that. He’d survived worse. He would survive this. Derek didn’t love him as he was, none of the pack liked him as he was, he’d driven them away, he’d not allow himself to do the same thing with anyone else. Which meant two things for him, one, he’d have to change how he acted, that would be hard, but he’d do it, he had to, and two, he wouldn’t ever let anyone else get close to him, he wouldn’t let anyone else throw him away like this, he wouldn’t give them a chance to get to know the real him.

He busied himself making sure that his plans were still going ahead, if things were going to go the way he thought they would then he needed to start getting things in place. The film was progressing nicely, they should be finished earlier than originally planned which was good, even though Ed kept causing problems at every moment. 

Stiles hated that Ed was playing things up to the cameras whenever they finished for the day, throwing an arm around Stiles’ shoulder or laughing loudly when Stiles hadn’t said anything. Stiles knew it was all for show and he hated it, obviously Ed wanted to keep up this act that he was a considerate person, Stiles knew it wasn’t true and he hated it. But, he wasn’t going to go off on one like he usually did, he wouldn’t. He’d deal with it calmly, delicately. He was not going to cause a scene. He hated that everyone would see them together, he hated that nothing was private in his life, he worried how long before his meetings with Dr Fox would be revealed, he hoped it would be never, for his dad’s sake.

By the time they finished shooting the film Stiles was struggling. His chest ached all the time and it only seemed to be getting worse, Dr Fox was struggling to come up with new ways to remove the toxin from his system and failing every time, Stiles could see the distress in her eyes every time another plan failed. He was glad that at least the filming was done, he had three months before he had to go back to filming his television series, that would give him time to get everything else put into place in regards to his side project. It was turning into a lot more work than he’d originally planned but with, Sasha, Elsie, Dean and several other supernatural beings already in agreement he knew they would be able to pull it off.

Jason missed Stiles enormously, they all did, he knew that Derek wanted to pretend that he didn’t still love Stiles, that it didn’t hurt him every time that he saw pictures of Ed and Stiles together, even if Stiles never seemed to be smiling in them. He wished Stiles would just come back, just tell Derek that he was sorry and then work things out, things weren’t right here without Stiles. Jason missed his best friend, the one who made him laugh every night when they were living together, the one who disappeared sometimes and came back looking tired but still with a smile on his face, but that was before Jason knew about the supernatural and back when Stiles still wanted to spend time with them, back when he loved Derek.

When filming finished on the Spiderman film Stiles seemed to spend time traveling around the country, there were hundreds of photos of him in different places, always looking serious and sad and alone, Jason wished he could find out what was bothering Stiles so much. Stiles looked pale and tired, no, more than that, he looked exhausted. Jason wanted to talk to him but whenever he called him Stiles just said to leave him alone, that he was busy. 

Soon all the marketing posters started being released and Stiles looked amazing, the glasses really suited him for one thing, and the trailer looked brilliant, Jason really couldn’t wait to watch it, he hoped Derek wouldn’t mind if he went to see it, he knew the rest of the pack wanted to go too. Derek was struggling though, struggling to move on, to pretend like Stiles wasn’t still the first thing he thought of in the morning and Jason didn’t want to make that any more difficult for him by being excited for Stiles’ film. 

He knew Derek had gone out on a few dates, but none of them had turned into anything serious, one night he’d come home smelling of another woman’s perfume and Derek had gone straight upstairs and got in the shower. He’d eventually told Lydia that the woman had kissed him, had been all over him, and Derek couldn’t think anything other than it was wrong because it wasn’t Stiles, even when Stiles had rejected him, he couldn’t just stop loving him.

Derek told all of them that he didn’t mind if they wanted to see the film, that Stiles was still pack even if they weren’t together, that they would all go to watch the film together when it came out, that maybe even Stiles would come and watch it with them.

Rick convinced Stiles to go to an awards evening a month before he was due to start shooting season four of ‘City of the dead’ – the third with Stiles in it. Rick was quite good at convincing Stiles to go to openings and events that he really didn’t want to go to, mainly because Stiles didn’t have the energy to argue with him when Rick really dug his heels in. He didn’t really want to go, he wanted to be cuddled up with Derek on the couch, watching a shitty film and laughing at whatever they felt like. He missed him, god he missed him so much, but it didn’t make any difference now, it was too late for that.

Things were up and running with his side project now and he was incredibly proud of that, he hoped it would continue to grow until it was a force to be reckoned with. He hoped it would offer the support to others that he wished he’d had at times. He’d spent the past three months travelling around the country getting everything set up, the signs were up, things were ready to go. Sasha had even said that she’d had one person appear already, she’d helped the young caster get away from a rogue djinn.

He’d arrived at the awards event, throwing on a suit and driving himself there, parking nearby and walking the rest of the way, he needed to be able to make a quick escape if necessary. He posed for a few photos, smiled at some of the reporters, asking some of the familiar faces about their partners, their kids, their workload, he always like to chat to people at events like this. It was obvious from their faces that some of them had noticed how pale he was looking, he was trying very hard not to let people know, not yet, preferably not ever.

“Stiles!” Someone called and Stiles turned to see Andy striding towards him, pulling him into a hug. “Great to see you kiddo, how’ve you been?” 

“I’m good thanks Andy. How are you?” 

“Ahh, well, you know how it goes, we’re just finishing the plans for the latest season, I’ve got big plans for you this season, major character arc. You’re not looking too great kid, very pale, you nervous about tonight? I hear you’re tipped to win big.”

“Oh.” Stiles said, he’d hoped to avoid this, especially not tonight, not now. “Actually, Andy, there’s something really important I need to talk to you about.” He glanced around, there was a room off to the side of the main room and Stiles motioned towards there. Andy followed him into the room, looking at him suspiciously. Stiles saw Jason across the room, looking at them oddly, Stiles wanted to go talk to him, but there was no chance that Jason would talk to him, not the way things had been recently, and he couldn’t let Jason hear what he was going to tell Andy. He cast a quick spell soundproofing the room, feeling it weaken him immensely, thank God he’d got the other spells up and running before it had got this bad, before all of his magic was being used on various other issues, he didn’t know how much longer before he’d have no magic left at all.

When he told Andy to write him out of the show Andy looked at him like he was a traitor, he offered him more money, more space, less time filming, just about anything to keep him. Stiles declined every offer, hating that he was lying to Andy. 

“Look, I’m sorry, but I’ve got these other film offers and I just, I think the show is dragging me down.”

“Stiles, kid, you love working on the show.”

“I do. You know I do. But I can’t Andy, I’m sorry.”

“You signed a contract.” Andy said getting serious, “You’re tied in to the show for another two years.” Stiles sighed.

“Okay, Andy, I’m going to tell you the absolute truth, but you have to promise me, before I say another word, that what I tell you stays between me and you. Under no circumstances can you tell anyone else.” 

Andy paused for a minute before nodding solemnly and Stiles sighed before telling him everything.

Jason had seen Stiles and Andy disappear into one of the side rooms, he’d moved closer, hoping to hear what was going on but he couldn’t hear a thing, he knew Stiles had probably cast a soundproofing spell and that annoyed him no end. Why was Stiles so pissed at them? He was the one who had cheated, maybe he was just embarrassed, afraid to speak to him and face Jason’s emotions, face the fact that Stiles had obviously lost his mind for a while, because why the hell would he cheat on Derek with Ed otherwise?

When Andy and Stiles finally reappeared Andy looked like he was in physical pain and Stiles was holding him by the shoulder gently, reassuring him that everything was going to be fine. Jason wandered over towards them but Stiles managed to move away from them before Jason got there.

“Hey Andy!” Jason said in greeting and Andy looked up at him, up close Andy looked quite distressed, his eyes a bit red, that bothered Jason immensely and he decided he’d get some information from Andy before the night was out. “What’s up dude? You okay?”

“Jason, hi,” Andy said looking flustered, looking around for Stiles for a moment and realizing the guy was nowhere to be seen. “How’s it going? You psyched for next season?”

“Yeah Andy, I can’t wait. How’s things going? You got a script planned yet?”

“Yeah, erm, no, I guess, maybe. I’m working on it.” Andy stammered and Jason frowned, Andy never stammered or looked flustered, he was always calm and in control. “Anyway, sorry Jason, but I’ve got to get to my table, there’s some things I need to chat to people about.” Andy said rushing away from him and leaving Jason standing there feeling like a spare part.

The awards show was broadcast live around the country and Derek had promised the whole pack would be watching because Jason had been nominated for best lead actor in a television series, he had a lot of strong competition and he didn’t think for one second that he would win anything, but his agent told him he had to be there so he’d come. Stiles had never been one for events like these so Jason hadn’t expected him to be here but he couldn’t help but hope, hope that they could talk, that Jason could convince him to come home and sort things with Derek, to fix things. 

Stiles had sat down in his seat, feeling exhausted after dealing with Andy, he didn’t want to be here, he wanted to be at home or, actually, he’d settle for anywhere other than here, he thought, when Ed sat down in the seat next to him.

“Stilinski.” Ed said in greeting, a smile on his lips for the camera but his tone was anything but friendly. 

“Ed.” Stiles replied, nodding his head slightly. “Seems like we’re stuck with each other for the night.” He said observing the seating cards for the first time.

“Apparently,” Ed grinned to the cameras, “Obviously they just can’t get enough of us.” He said, placing a hand across the back of Stiles’ chair. 

“Obviously I have definitely had enough of you.” Stiles said, rolling his eyes at Ed’s actions. He could see Jason glaring at them from across the room but he hoped they were far enough away that he couldn’t hear what was being said. Derek was with Leanne, Stiles didn’t care what Derek thought, he didn’t, he wouldn’t. 

The awards ceremony was soon underway and Stiles was surprised when he won the award for best supporting actor, he accepted the award gratefully, at a bit of a loss when they expected a speech, he hadn’t expected this. The camera panned to Jason who was clapping, seemingly happily, and Andy who looked more than a little emotional.

“Erm,” Stiles looked at his award, “Thanks I guess. I’m a little surprised. Sorry, I probably should have prepared a speech or something, but, erm, I didn’t.” He said, getting a small laugh from the crowd. “Well, thank you, thanks for this, I couldn’t have done it without the team, without our director Andy who took a chance on me, and Jason, of course, who always manages to make me look good.” There was another laugh and Jason grinned at him, Stiles tried not to feel a little broken at that, he hated how good an actor Jason could be sometimes, pretending to be proud of Stiles, pretending to be his friend, then the next minute telling him that he needed to stay away from him, stay away from them, that he wasn’t welcome to come home. “Just, erm, thanks I guess.” He said before waving awkwardly before moving swiftly back to his seat as people clapped loudly. 

The rest of the night went by pretty quickly, Stiles won two more awards, one for best action role and a second award of special recognition. He teared up a little at that one, as the host spoke of how his heroics on screen had transferred into real life when he’d not only helped save the lives of his crew in the fire on set last year, but also, only a few months prior, had saved the lives of two children from a serial killer. Stiles had blushed brightly, ignoring Ed as he muttered a snide remark under his breath and headed up to collect the award. Andy had burst into tears at his table and Stiles stopped on his way to the stage to pull him into a tight hug.

“It’s going to be okay Andy. I promise.” Stiles muttered, aware that Jason could probably hear him. Andy had held him tightly for a moment before letting him carry on his way, clapping loudly while tears were streaming down his face and a look of sorrow was etched into his features.

“Wow, well, thanks for this.” Stiles said in disbelief, “I, erm, well, I can’t begin to tell you guys how much this means to me,” He paused trying to gather his thoughts, “I honestly don’t think that I did anything any single one of you wouldn’t have done if you’d found yourself in that situation. And, despite everything that happened, if I found myself in the situation again, I wouldn’t do anything any differently.” He glanced to Andy who was wiping tears from his eyes, “And I want to say thank you, to everyone who I’ve worked with and spent time with over the past few years, you’ve made my life truly unforgettable and I’m so glad for all the experiences you’ve given me.” Stiles could feel himself getting overly emotional and decided to end it there, he didn’t need to make an idiot of himself on national television, especially not when he was trying not to cause a big scene, thanking everyone again before stepping off the stage and heading back to his seat, he was emotionally and physically drained by now, he wanted to go home. 

He sat through the rest of the awards ceremony, ignoring the way that Ed chatted happily to him whenever a camera was pointed in their direction. As soon as the awards were over Stiles headed towards the exit, too tired to stay for the party, a lot of people tried to get him to go to the bar with him, congratulating him on his wins, chatting about his latest plans and what he was doing later, Stiles couldn’t be bothered with any of it. He managed to make his excuses and leave less than half an hour later, successfully avoiding Jason who would no doubt tell him that the pack was doing fine without him and to stay away. 

He got back to his car easily enough, once he’d gotten through the waves of reporters and cameras. Then he wasn’t sure what to do, his body was screaming at him to head to bed, to go to sleep, to try and rest, his mind was telling him to check on some of the signs in this vicinity, check how things were going, although it all seemed to be going well so far. 

In the end his body won out, he’d gotten in the car when his nose started bleeding, he wiped away the blood on the back of his sleeve and knew that he needed to go back to the hotel, that it was more important he sleep right now. 

Jason looked for Stiles as soon as the awards were finished, he hadn’t won best lead actor, but then he hadn’t really expected to, he’d kind of hoped that Stiles and him would have won best duo, but that went to Jensen and Jared, Jason wasn’t really surprised by that, the guys acted more like family than friends, and considering Stiles and him were barely talking at the moment it probably showed. 

He knew that something was going on with Andy and Stiles, the way the older man had broken down when Stiles got the special recognition award, there was something weird going on there, oddly though he couldn’t find either Andy or Stiles, both of them seemed to have gone home, he’d kind of expected it of Stiles, he never was big on partying, but Andy was usually one of the last people to be propping up the bar at the end of the night. Instead he bumped into Ed who smelled slightly of Stiles and Jason fought back the need to growl, Stiles should be with them, not this idiot who thought he was something special and didn’t have an ounce of talent in his whole body. 

“Stiles?” Ed was saying to a reporter, “Yeah, I’m really proud of him for winning so many awards, he deserves them. Truly.” Jason could hear the lie in his words, not to mention smell the jealousy that was surrounding Ed. Obviously he realised that Stiles was way more talented than him.

“Where is he now?” The reporter asked.

“He’s around somewhere I’m sure.” Ed said glancing around as if expecting Stiles to appear suddenly. 

“He went back to the hotel.” Jason said, butting in on the interview and smiling a fake smile at Ed. He wanted everyone to know just how shit Ed was, how he didn’t deserve Stiles, that Stiles and Derek belonged together. 

“Oh?” The reporter said interested suddenly, “Is he not feeling well? He was looking a little pale.”

“No.” Ed said, glaring at Jason who only smirked in reply, “He’s fine. He was just a little nervous about the awards and I think the special recognition, completely deserved by the way, was kind of the final straw. He just needs a bit of time to get over the shock, he’ll definitely be at the after party later.” The reporter nodded smiling at Ed before turning to Jason. 

“And how is Stiles? None of us have really seen him smiling recently, not since the break-up with Derek?” She asked, “Have you spent much time with him recently?”

“Unfortunately not.” Jason said, “He’s been really busy as you can imagine, but we’re back in the studio next month to start filming season four of City of the dead and I’m sure we’ll get to spend a lot of time together then.” Jason said, smiling for the camera. 

“And what can you tell us about season four? Last season ended with your character believing that he’d killed his best friend?”

Jason was glad that the attention was turning towards him, that Ed was slowly being forgotten about, he could see the look of anger on Ed’s face and it only increased the smile on Jason’s.

“You know we aren’t allowed to talk about those kind of things.” Jason grinned, “What I can tell you is that it’s going to be a really trying season for both our characters, obviously Jason is feeling immense guilt because the last time he saw Dylan he was dead in Jason’s arms.”

“But we all know Dylan didn’t die?” The reporter said intrigued as Ed slunk off towards the bar.

“Yeah, but Jason doesn’t know that, he believes that Dylan died and that he killed him, it’s really going to mess with him.”

“What about Dylan, what’s his character up to? Last we saw he woke up in hell, alone?” 

“Yeah, well, you’ll just have to watch the show and see.” Jason grinned as the reported laughed.

“Thanks so much for your time Jason, we’ll let you enjoy the rest of your evening.” Jason nodded and headed through the crowd, trying to see if he could find Andy. 

Derek had watched the awards show, hating the fact that his heart still skipped when he saw Stiles, he looked pale and tired and serious, Derek missed seeing him smile, missed seeing him laugh, missed his limbs going in a hundred directions, as if they couldn’t keep up with what his mind was wanting them to do. He knew that Stiles was with Ed now, that much was obvious by the way Ed was always laughing or smiling at Stiles, even if Stiles never seemed to return the smiles, but it didn’t mean that Derek didn’t still love him. He couldn’t take Stiles back, even if Stiles actually wanted him to do that, because Derek couldn’t go through that again when Stiles got bored again and went off with someone else, Derek wouldn’t survive it a second time. But he still loved him, god he loved him so much it hurt, he’d tried to move past it, tried to focus on the anger and betrayal he felt and go meet other people but none of them worked, none of them were Stiles. 

He’d eventually caved, deciding there was no-one for him but Stiles, after a date with a woman who had practically sat in his lap the whole evening and had had her tongue down his throat for most of it. Derek had tried to enjoy it, tried to pretend that he wanted it, focused on getting revenge on Stiles if nothing else, but the second he’d got home he’d run to the shower, determined to get her scent off him, he couldn’t do that again, he couldn’t be with anyone else, he wanted Stiles. But he couldn’t have Stiles and even if he could he shouldn’t, not if he wanted to keep his sanity.

Seeing Stiles accepting the special recognition award made Derek swell with pride, he hoped he was included in the people who had changed Stiles’ life, he wasn’t sure if he was though, he wondered if Stiles was saying that more for Ed’s benefit than anyone else’s. He wanted to hug him, tell him how proud he was, but he couldn’t do any of that. They were over, he had to face that and let Stiles get on with his life, Derek had to move on. 

The whole pack had watched the awards ceremony together, even John had come across, although he did that a lot, apparently his house felt too empty and Derek could completely understand that. They’d all cheered when Stiles won the awards, Derek knew John wanted desperately to call Stiles and tell him how proud he was of him but he was trying his best to give Stiles the space he kept saying he needed. 

Jason had left the party after lots of drinks later, the perks of being a werewolf was the inability to get drunk, although even a werewolf could get drunk if he drank enough alcohol and Jason had definitely done that. He became aware he was being followed a couple of streets away from the ceremony, he couldn’t quite remember which direction his hotel was in and he’d decided the walk would probably sober him up more than getting in the back of a taxi. He was starting to regret that now.

Something vaguely human shaped lurched out of the shadows and turned in his direction, Jason’s claws came out, ready to defend himself, but the thing moved quickly, already slicing wicked claws into his shoulder, Jason cried out in pain, his mind sobering immediately and he did the only thing he could think of, he ran. 

He knew the thing was close behind him, knew that he wasn’t going to be able to outrun it. It felt so much like the night that Percy had attacked him, when he’d run, when it had done no good and he’d been bitten, when Stiles had saved his life by forcing the bite to take. But Stiles wasn’t going to save him now, no-one was. 

What the hell!? Jason thought skidding to a stop. There on the wall in front of him was a piece of graffiti, it was a simple design but that wasn’t what had caught his eye, instead it was the glowing writing above it. 

‘Call for help and help will come. SS Branch.’ The writing said. Jason glanced behind him, the creature wasn’t far behind him, he had only moments.

“Help me.” He said quickly, surprised when the graffiti turned into a swirling white portal and sucked him in. He landed on a hard floor a moment later and turned to look behind him, sure that the creature was going to be on top of him any second, instead all he could see was a solid wall. “What the hell?” He whispered amazed.

“It’s a teleportation portal.” A voice said from the shadows and Jason jumped to his feet, glancing around the room until he saw a woman stepping forward.

“A teleportation portal?” He echoed in confusion and the woman nodded.

“There’s hundreds, maybe thousands of them across the country, only supernatural creatures can see them, you call for help and if you’re worthy the portal transports you to a safe house.” She explained.

“This is a safe house?” Jason asked nervously and the woman laughed lightly.

“No. This is the basement to my bar, I’m Mel by the way, you can come upstairs and have a drink if you want?” Jason nodded, following her up the stairs and into the bar. There were several other beings in the room, Jason could smell at least three other wolves and someone who smelled like magic. “You’re across town, about nine miles away from that thing. It’ll be dealt with soon so don’t worry about that.” 

“What’s SS Branch?” Jason asked and Mel grinned at him.

“We are.” She said motioning to the room, “Well, not just us of course. SS Branch stands for Supernatural Safety, we’re here to help other supernatural beings, there’s some of us that have safe houses, that take in the people in danger.”

“And the others?” Jason asked suspiciously. 

“They take out the monsters. They go out to the portal and, if they aren’t willing to come in, eliminate the threats.”

“So, you’re like a supernatural police force?” Jason asked after a few moments thought.

“Yeah, you could say that.” Mel said. “We just try to do what we can to help those in need.”

“How do you become a safe house?” Jason asked, already thinking how great it would be to take in anyone who needed help. 

“You have to talk to the casters, they’re the ones who create the portals.” 

“Are any of them here now?” Jason asked in excitement.

“Nope.” Mel said, “But if you leave me your contact details then I’ll get one of them to get in touch with you. Although, I’m thinking, you should probably talk to your Alpha before you start planning anything.” 

“I plan on doing.” Jason reassured her, already pulling out a piece of paper and quickly writing his number on it. He wanted to repay the favour to anyone who needed it. “Please let them know to get in touch with me as soon as they can.”

“I will.” Mel said taking the number and putting it in her pocket, “Although don’t expect anything any time soon, they’re busy people.”

“I’m sure they are.” Jason said, “Look, I’m really thankful you saved me, you saved my life.”

“I just answered the call.” Mel said. “Although next time, maybe don’t go wandering down darkened alleyways while there’s a rugaru running around.”

“A rugaru?” Jason asked, he’d only heard of one of those before, something Stiles had mentioned previously, apparently it hadn’t gone down easily and had nearly taken Stiles’ head off in the process. Jason could kind of believe that now. 

“Yeah, what’s up kid? Never seen one before?”

“No.” Jason answered honestly. “I should probably get going. My Alpha said to call him when I got back to the hotel safely.”

“Fair enough. Watch out for yourself kid. I’d prefer not to see you under these circumstances again.” 

“I’ll do my best.” Jason said, already rushing towards the door, desperate to get back to the hotel and tell Derek about what had happened. 

Jason arrived home the next day and Derek and the rest of the pack had all gathered to hear what had happened. Jason explained the concept of the SS Branch, how they saved those in danger, went after the monsters that attacked them, sometimes eliminating them if necessary. The pack was more than impressed, especially when he explained about the portal and how it had teleported him nine miles across the city.

“How did they do that?” Allison asked.

“I don’t know.” Jason shrugged, “Apparently the casters are the ones to create the portals and the safe houses.”

“And you want us to become a safe house?” Derek asked and Jason nodded eagerly.

“I mean, come on Derek, think about it, if someone is in trouble they can come to us, we can patch them up before sending them on their way again.”

“So could hundreds of other places.” Erica said.

“Yeah,” Jason admitted, “But you have to admit, this place sees more than its fair share of creatures, I know not as much recently, but some of the stories you’ve told me, it’s seen plenty. I just want to offer help to those that need it when they need it.” 

“It’s a good idea.” Lydia said and Jason grinned, if Lydia thought it was a good idea then Derek would end up agreeing, no doubt about it. “But we need to know more about it, how it works, how we know that what’s coming through the portal is someone in danger and not the creature chasing them, where they’d be coming from, that the creature won’t be able to track them to here, how long before the people who go after these creatures would get here. This is all information that we need before we risk the pack by inviting these people into our home.”

“I gave them my number to get the casters to contact us. We can ask them that when they call.” Jason said and Lydia nodded.

“I guess if they’ve got good answers for all of those questions then yes we’ll do it.” Derek said and Jason grinned. “But if they can’t answer the questions then I’m not risking any of you. You understand?”

“Yes.” Jason said happily, knowing that this was going to be great, he was going to get to make a difference, he was going to help people. 

The next three weeks passed by without incident and Jason was a bit annoyed that none of the casters from SS branch had got in touch with him yet, he knew they were busy, but surely one of them should have called by now. 

Instead he got a delivery the next morning and opened it excitedly when he realized it was the script for the first episode of season four, they were due to start filming in less than a week so it was about time he got the script. He dashed to his room, ignoring the rest of the pack, it would be easier to keep the script a secret if none of them knew about it. There was a small post-it note stuck to the front page and Jason tore it off quickly.

‘Jason, under no circumstances are you to tell anyone’ Anyone was underlined with three bold black lines, ‘about the contents in this script. Andy’. Jason could feel his curiosity rising and he read through the script as quickly as he could, glad to see that Dylan and Jason reunited early in the episode. His smile turning to a frown as the script continued and tears forming in his eyes by the time he had finished. He pulled out his phone and quickly called Andy.

“This is some sort of joke right?” Jason asked angrily.

“Nope. Sorry kid.” Andy said and Jason clenched the phone so tightly he was sure he was going to break it.

“He can’t quit. He’s signed a contract.” 

“He’s got other commitments.” Andy said honestly, “He’s said he’ll do the first episode, but then he’s gone.” 

“You can’t let him do this.” Jason seethed but Andy didn’t seem fazed.

“It’s done Jason. Too late to fix it now.” 

“I’ll fix it.” Jason said. “He’s not quitting on me. I won’t let him.” He snarled before hanging up the phone and dialling Stiles number quickly, it went to voicemail and that just pissed Jason off even more. “You think it’s okay to do this?” He ranted, “To leave the show? To leave me? You signed a contract Stiles, I don’t know what you think that means but it sure as hell means you can’t just walk out. You can’t just make up shit about other commitments and then do a disappearing act and you can’t keep just ignoring my calls. You best call me back and soon, otherwise I’m going to track you down and beat you to death. You understand me? I don’t care what you’re going through. You can’t just abandon your friends like this.” He hung up the phone, anger rolling off him in waves. They couldn’t do this. Stiles couldn’t do this. 

“What’s going on?” Derek said from the doorway, looking at him with worry and Jason felt like screaming, why did they have to break up? Why did Stiles have to be so stupid? Why did he have to kiss Ed who was such an idiot? Why did this whole mess have to happen!?

“Stiles is quitting the show.” Jason said angrily, pointing at the script. “He’s leaving, and apparently Andy has said it’s fine, even though Stiles signed a contract saying he was with the show for the next two years at least.”

Derek looked at the script sadly, as if it was the last thing he had to associate Stiles with. 

“I’m sure he’ll have a good reason.” Derek muttered.

“Yeah, apparently he has other commitments!” Jason said, so angry that he could feel the tears rolling down his face with frustration. “I don’t understand. I don’t know what we did, why he’s doing this, he’s pack, that shouldn’t change.” 

“I know.” Derek said, sorrow colouring his voice as he pulled Jason into a hug, “I know and it’s not fair, but Stiles makes his own decisions. We can’t force him to be pack if that’s not what he wants.”

“You could.” Jason whispered into Derek’s shoulder, “You could. I know he’s miserable with Ed, I know he is. Go see him, tell him you’ll take him back, please Derek. I know you still love him. Please don’t let him leave.” 

Derek pulled away from Jason, feeling his heart shattering all over again. 

“I can’t.” Derek said, trying to breathe and finding it difficult, “I can’t Jason, I can’t go through that again.” Jason looked at him tearfully.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I shouldn’t have asked you to do that. I’m sorry.”

“No. It’s fine. Don’t worry.” Derek said reassuringly, “I, just, Stiles and I, we’re over. Nothing’s going to change that and I think it’s time we all accepted that.” 

“I wish we didn’t have to.”

“I know. Me too.” Derek muttered, “But Stiles made his decision, I made mine. There’s nothing we can do about it.” 

Jason didn’t hear anything back from Stiles for the next two days, although he kept his phone close so that he couldn’t possibly miss his call. Instead when he did finally get a call it was from a man who introduced himself as Jack and that he was calling about the possible safe house. Jason had handed his phone over to Derek who had discussed the portal with Jack before deciding that both Jack and another caster, Ella, would come visit them in a couple of weeks and discuss any queries the pack might have before setting up the portal, if that was something they still wanted. Derek passed his phone back to Jason, smiling at him, all of them hoping that this would work out and they would be able to help people. 

Jason turned up for the first day on set feeling a bit nervous, he was still angry at Stiles and the fact that when he had eventually called him back he’d just said that it was happening, there was nothing Jason could do about it and to just grow up. He went into his changing room, surprised when there was a knock on the door a few moments later and Stiles was stood on the other side.

Stiles looked tired and a bit fidgety but otherwise okay and Jason was glad about that. 

“Hey.” He said in greeting and Stiles nodded in reply.

“Look, I just came to tell you, I know you don’t like me doing this, but I do have reasons, and I just think it would be better if we kept out of each other’s way, when we weren’t filming.” Stiles said and Jason stared at him open mouthed in shock. 

“What? Look, Stiles, obviously I’m pissed that you’re quitting, and I’m really pissed that you cheated on Derek, but we’re still friends. I don’t want to lose you over this.” Jason said honestly.

“We’re not friends.” Stiles said, “Maybe, yeah, once upon a time, but not anymore. I’m moving on Jason, it’s probably about time you did the same.” Stiles sneered before turning around and heading back to his own changing room. Jason wanted to go after him but he knew it wouldn’t make any difference, Stiles had obviously made up his mind. 

Stiles felt sick with nerves, this week was probably going to be one of the hardest things he’d ever have to do, but once it was done then it would be one less thing he had to think about, one less worry. He told himself that he would change everything about himself if it made Jason more comfortable, if it gave them a chance to be friends again, he would do his best not to be annoying or frustrating. He wouldn’t make lame jokes, or laugh too loudly. He’d just be quiet and calm and maybe that would give them a shot at being friends again.

He arrived late on set, Jason was sat in his changing room when Stiles walked in and it took him by surprise.

“Jay?” He said in genuine shock, “What are you doing in here?”

“I just came to talk to you actually.” Jason said, his voice anything but friendly, “I just came to make sure we’re clear on how this is going to go. We’ll film this episode, but other than when we’re actually on screen together, I don’t want to see you, I don’t want to spend time with you and I sure as hell don’t want to have to talk to you.”

“Jason, please, look, I know how things went with Derek, I know that he’s with Leanne now and that’s fine, I’m glad he’s happy. But we’re friends, before the pack, before everything, we were friends. Please don’t push me away because of that.”

“Maybe we were once, but I have the pack now and I don’t need you, I don’t want you. You understand?” Jason hissed angrily. Stiles nodded numbly, unable to believe that this was how things were going to be, he tried to think positively, that at least he only had to survive shooting one episode with him, things wouldn’t be like this for long. He’d been working on something else, something that might be about to pay off, and if it did, then he’d be coming back to work and he would fix things with Jason at the very least, even if the rest of the pack still wanted nothing to do with him he would not lose Jason too. And, if it didn’t, well Stiles wouldn’t have to deal with any of these problems anymore.

Jason hated that they weren’t speaking, it made everything harder, usually Stiles made jokes, got Jason to break character even when he tried his best not to, but now, now it was different. Stiles was still and pale and serious, Andy kept glancing at Stiles with worry and Jason would be an idiot to miss those looks. He wanted to know what the hell Stiles had said to get Andy to agree to let him out of the contract. They didn’t need to put much make-up on Stiles to make him look like he’d just escaped hell and that worried Jason, if Stiles was so miserable, so unhappy, then why the hell didn’t he just come home? 

“Alright, take ten.” Andy called out on Thursday afternoon, they’d nearly finished filming the episode, a day ahead of schedule and Jason hated it, he hated that things weren’t sorted with Stiles, that he was about to lose him and they couldn’t even speak. Stiles kept dashing off to his changing room as soon as they’d finished his scenes and that pissed Jason off too, usually he’d be hanging out with the crew at the side of the set, making bets about how many donuts he could fit in his mouth at once, instead he was locking himself away from all of them. Jason supposed he should feel grateful that it wasn’t just him Stiles was avoiding. 

A woman had arrived a few minutes ago and headed into Stiles’ changing room. She was quite tall and pretty, but her features were stern and aggressive and Jason wasn’t going to get in her way. He wanted to hear what was going on in there but Stiles had cast a soundproofing spell and Jason couldn’t hear anything. Instead they both exited the room twenty minutes later, Stiles looking paler than he had before and the woman looking at him in worry. 

“It’ll be fine.” Stiles muttered before turning back to set. 

“What’ll be fine?” Jason asked as soon as Stiles approached and Stiles turned to look at him in confusion, as if genuinely surprised that Jason was talking to him. 

“Nothing.” Stiles replied.

“Okay boys, final scene.” Andy called out and Stiles moved across the set to his marker, Jason shook his head slightly, getting in the right frame of mind. “And, Action.” Andy said. 

“Dyl,” Jason said, his voice filled with emotion, “Dylan, please, you can’t do this. You can’t leave me.” 

“I’m sorry Jason.” Stiles replied, “I am. But I just, I can’t do this anymore.”

“You can.” Jason insisted, “Dylan, please, you can. We stick together, we have each other’s backs. That’s how this works. I can’t do this without you.”

“I can’t.” Stiles said in a small voice, “I just can’t okay? All of this,” Stiles gestured to the streets around them, several dead bodies were on the ground, vampire and human together, “I just, I can’t be here. I can’t. And I’m not asking you to come with me, I know you can’t give up the fight, I know this all means too much to you. But I’m done Jay, I can’t do this, not anymore. I’m sorry.”

“You can’t!” Jason said, the script hadn’t said to cry, but Stiles sounded so sad and it sounded so final that Jason couldn’t stop the tears from coming. “Dylan you can’t leave me.” Stiles looked at him with eyes full of such sorrow that Jason wanted nothing more than to pull him into a tight hug and never let go off him. “Please, please Dylan, please don’t do this.”

“Haven’t we given enough?” Stiles said angrily, “Haven’t I given enough? Haven’t I sacrificed enough? This won’t end, it will never end, and after I’m dead and gone, which is the only thing that will happen if I stay here, this evil will still go on. There’s no way of beating this Jay. I’ve sacrificed so much already; the only thing I have left to give is my life, and I can’t give that, not yet, I’m not ready to die, I know that’s selfish, I know. But I don’t want to die, not yet.” Stiles looked on the verge of tears now, his words desperate, sounding so sincere that it broke Jason’s heart. “I’m sorry Jay, I really am.” Stiles said, grabbing his bag and turning away from him. 

Jason watched him leave, unable to move, frozen to the spot, feeling like the whole world had come to a stop because Stiles was walking away from him and he wasn’t coming back. Stiles turned around, walking towards him quickly, pulling him into a tight hug and Jason was stunned for a moment because this wasn’t in the script either, before returning the embrace. “Love you Jay.” Stiles muttered into his shoulder before pulling away, walking back the way he had come and disappearing off the camera, Jason staring at his retreating back with a look of pure shock on his face.

“Cut!” Andy shouted, jumping up from his chair and rushing to the set. “That was brilliant!” He said, pulling them both by the shoulder towards the middle of the set. “Fantastic!” He said triumphantly, “If you guys don’t get the best duo at next year’s awards then I’ll…” Andy suddenly trailed off, looking upset for a moment before he managed to get himself under control, Stiles patted his shoulder reassuringly and Jason looked at them both in confusion, “Anyway,” Andy said, sounding slightly more subdued, “That was beautiful, the fans will go nuts for it.” 

The crew all came and hugged them, congratulated them, said their goodbyes to Stiles who looked so sad that Jason couldn’t help but think that he didn’t really want to leave, so why the hell was he doing this? Had Ed convinced him to do it maybe? 

Stiles swayed slightly and put out a hand to steady himself on a chair, Jason looked across at him and Stiles frowned. 

“Sorry,” He said to the crew member who was looking at him with worry, “I missed lunch, I’ll grab something in a minute.” He said as an explanation, feeling very weak and dizzy all of a sudden. He said his goodbyes to the rest of the crew before heading to his changing room and sitting down in the chair. He felt sick to his stomach, this was so much harder than he ever thought it was going to be, saying goodbye to them all, saying goodbye to Jason, he didn’t want to do this. There was hope, he was sure there was hope, just for a minute he was sure Jason looked at him like he still cared about Stiles, he couldn’t just leave without talking to him, he had to fix this. 

There was a knock on his door and then Jason was entering the room and Stiles glanced at him in surprise.

“Hey.” Stiles said, trying for a smile, it felt foreign on his lips now, and Jason frowned at him. 

“I came to say goodbye.” Jason said, his voice tense. 

“I’m not leaving town for a few days.” Stiles said bravely, “Maybe we could hang out? Grab lunch or something?”

“No.” Jason said firmly, “I thought I’d made myself clear, we’re not friends Stiles, not anymore.”

“But,” Stiles said surprised, “Just then, on set, you looked upset to see me go, I thought…”

“It’s called acting.” Jason said, cutting him off. “Look, Stiles, you’re leaving the show, we’ve finished the episode, why bother staying in town? Why not just go already? Nobody wants you here. None of the pack want you here.” 

“Right.” Stiles said, biting his bottom lip and nodding, he couldn’t tell Jason that he needed to stay in town until the night of the half-moon if he had any chance of getting the spell to work. “That’s fine. I’ll be gone as soon as possible.” Stiles said, trying not to think how much this hurt. 

“Good. Until then, just stay the hell out of our way.” Jason said, already turning to leave the room. As soon as he was gone Stiles let out a shaky sigh, his hands were trembling, he gritted his teeth, grabbed the few belongings he had here, shoved them into a bag and headed out of the room. 

Rick was waiting for him as soon as he got back to the hotel and Stiles sighed heavily, leaving the door open so Rick could follow him into the room. Most days Rick was hanging around set, although Stiles hadn’t noticed him today, that’s not to say he wasn’t there, Stiles was sure he would be somewhere, but Stiles had been thinking about a lot more important things than Rick today.

“You did the right thing Stiles.” Rick said, almost reading Stiles’ mind, “Think of all the opportunities that you’ll have now you aren’t tied into that show.”

“I loved that show Rick.” Stiles said sadly, “What do you want anyway?” He said, looking around the room, he barely had any belongings here either, everything that mattered had stayed with Derek, Stiles hated to think what had happened to them now, Leanne had probably thrown them out when she moved her belongings in. 

“I came to see how you were feeling? See if you are up to going out tonight? We’ve had an invitation to a club opening downtown, I thought it would be good for you to get out, celebrate your new found freedom.” Rick said happily.

“Not tonight.” Stiles said, “I don’t really feel like it.” 

“Stiles,” Rick said firmly, “The owners are expecting you to show your face at least.”

“No.” Stiles replied, “I’ve got other plans.”

“Well, tough, cancel them, you need to go Stiles.” Rick said and Stiles sighed, he really couldn’t be bothered arguing with him, he needed to rest, to go to sleep. 

“Okay, fine, I’ll go. Just give me a couple of hours to sleep and then I’ll go.” 

“Great.” Rick replied smugly, “I’ll let them know to expect you.” He said before disappearing from the room. Stiles collapsed exhausted on his bed and tried not to think about how much his chest ached, he missed his dad, his pack, Derek. No, he couldn’t think about Derek, he was happy with Leanne, Stiles didn’t need to hear about how little Derek cared for him, he needed to sleep, to escape for a little while.

Derek was out on patrol, according to Lydia, Jason had come back to the house a few hours ago looking upset, they’d finished filming the last episode that Stiles would be in and Derek had figured it would be hard for him. The whole pack had suggested a pack night, watching films, eating ice cream, cuddling on the couches, Derek said he’d join them as soon as he finished his shift, John had headed across there an hour ago, Derek still had another two hours to go. 

He'd been advised to stick close to the downtown area, it was always busier in the evenings as there were clubs and pubs around, tonight was supposed to be even busier than usual as a new club opened up. It was pretty quiet to begin with but more and more reporters turned up as the night went on and Derek wasn’t really surprised when he saw Stiles leaving the club twenty minutes later. His heart was beating so loudly he was surprised no-one else could hear it, Stiles hadn’t seen him, too busy pushing his way through the reporters who were taking hundreds of photos, Derek had come to a complete standstill, he couldn’t breathe, Stiles, god, Stiles, he’d missed him so much and seeing him there, seeing him so close, knowing that all he had to do was take a few steps forward and he’d be able to touch him, to hug him, to hold him. He took a deep breath, squaring his shoulders, he couldn’t do that. They weren’t together, Derek didn’t get to be with him, not anymore. He was just grateful that the wind was blowing in the other direction, that he didn’t smell Stiles, because if Derek could smell him, he knew he wouldn’t be able to resist, knew he would push through all of those reporters just to get to Stiles.

Stiles had hated every second of being in that club, there were way too many people sucking up to him, he despised it, but Rick seemed to love it, ordering several free drinks before Stiles decided he’d had enough and was going back to the hotel. He left the club, not really surprised by the reporters outside but he’d really had enough of them flashing cameras in his face. He pushed his way through easily enough, relieved when he managed to get through and into a street that was clear of people. He was about half way down the street when he felt blood start to drip from his nose, he swiped at it quickly, wiping the blood on his sleeve before anyone saw it. 

He couldn’t help the feeling that he was being followed but whenever he turned around there was nobody there, it didn’t stop the tingling at the back of his spine though. He didn’t feel strong enough to fight, he felt weak and dizzy and his nose was still dripping blood even when he kept wiping at it. 

“Shit.” He cursed, placing a hand against a nearby wall to keep him upright when a wave of dizziness hit him again. He took a few steadying breaths. “You’re fine.” He muttered, pushing away from the wall and heading quickly to the hotel. “You’re fine.” He repeated, if he kept repeating it he might be able to believe it.

Derek was worried about Stiles, he hadn’t meant to follow him, it was more that he just wanted to make sure that Stiles got back to his hotel safely, especially with all those reporters who had been harassing him. Derek wanted to tell Stiles that he was letting his guards slip if he hadn’t sensed Derek but that would involve talking to him and Derek didn’t think he would be able to walk away if he started down that path.

He hadn’t expected to smell Stiles’ blood and he’d hurried after him, keeping to the shadows as he watched Stiles walk towards his hotel. He didn’t like that Stiles was bleeding but it seemed like a simple nosebleed, when Stiles swayed slightly Derek had to stop himself from rushing up to him, from checking that Stiles was okay, he told himself that Stiles wasn’t his problem anymore, that Stiles had Ed to watch out for him, that Derek and Stiles weren’t together. Instead he watched as Stiles pushed away from the wall and made it to the hotel. 

He’d arrived home on Thursday evening to the pack in a pile on the floor, wrapped up in cushions and blankets, all of them piled around Jason who still smelled faintly like Stiles. Derek had snuggled into the pile, hating that he took so much comfort from Stiles’ scent, but falling into an easy sleep. 

They’d spent a few hours together on Friday, Jason telling them about the odd woman that had appeared on set and spent some time in Stiles’ room before leaving again, also about the fact that Stiles had hugged him and how Jason had been sure it meant something, up until Stiles had told him to just stay the hell away from him and leave him alone. 

Derek hugged Jason, knowing that Jason was trying to hold back tears of disappointment. They spent the evening watching some comedy films, empty pizza boxes scattered around the living room, laughing loudly, trying to convince themselves that everything was fine, that Stiles hadn’t reappeared in their lives and then disappeared again just as quickly. 

By Saturday afternoon Derek was thinking that he’d made the right decision by staying away from Stiles, it was easier that way, he couldn’t imagine having to see Stiles standing right in front of him, watching at Stiles chose to be with anyone else other than him, to inhale Stiles’ scent, to breathe it in and be surrounded by it and then witness as it faded again, as Stiles walked away from him again. No, he’d made the right decision. 

They’d all gone out for a run earlier, apart from Lydia, Allison and John, who had stayed at the house and spent the morning alternating between lounging around the house, watching Saturday morning programmes and baking cookies, Lydia’s were amazing and the whole pack loved them. 

When the wolves arrived back around lunchtime they’d all looked tired but happy, Derek had a small smile on his lips when he grabbed one of Lydia’s cookies, it was the happiest she’d seen him in the past few months, even if it still wasn’t nearly as happy as he had been with Stiles. 

They were all in the kitchen apart from Allison when they heard something breaking in the living room and they all dashed in to check she was okay. Allison was staring at the television in shock, her mouth hanging open, her eyes unblinking, a plate shattered at her feet, barely even aware of anyone else in the room. John grabbed the remote and turned up the volume.

“This is an exclusive with channel four news on the impending death of Stiles Stilinski.” The reporter said and John was staring at the screen with horror, the whole pack staring in silence. “The following video has been verified by our technicians.” She said as a video started to play. 

“Hey, that’s Stiles’ changing room!” Jason said and everyone shushed him. The woman from the other day was already in there and they watched as Stiles entered the room and looked across at her. 

“Stiles.” The woman said in greeting, tapping her hand on a table and Stiles jumped up on the table.

“Dr Fox.” He said in greeting, a small smile on his lips. 

“How are you doing?” She said, pulling out a stethoscope from her bag. 

“Can’t complain.” Stiles shrugged.

“Shirt off.” Dr Fox replied. John cringed as Stiles took his shirt off and his veins were black under his skin, much like the wolves when they drew pain from others. “Alright, seriously, how are you feeling?” Stiles rolled his eyes, she glared at him before he finally gave in.

“Shaky.” Stiles said honestly, “Weak. Dizzy.”

“The nosebleeds?”

“More frequent.”

“How frequent?”

“A few times a day.”

“The seizures?” 

“Pretty regular.” Stiles said.

“Stiles, I’m serious about this. You need to give me serious answers.”

“Why?” Stiles said, a faint grin on his lips. 

“Will you take this seriously please!?” Dr Fox shouted and Stiles looked at her incredulously, “You’re dying Stiles!” She said, “This isn’t you’ve got a twenty percent chance or a ten percent chance or even a five percent chance. You are dying, and barring spontaneous remission there is nothing I can do about it.” There was a pause and Stiles looked at her a little sadly, “I don’t want you to die any sooner Stiles, if you answer the questions honestly then maybe I can buy you a bit more time.”

“Alright, chill out doc, anyone would think you care.” Stiles said.

“Of course I care Stiles.” Dr Fox replied, “Please, look, I can’t do anything about this, there’s nothing I can do, the poison is killing you.”

“I’m not dead yet.” 

“I know that, but the fact the nosebleeds are so frequent, the seizures increasing, it means the poison has reached your brain. You’re running out of time. I’m talking days Stiles, maybe a week if you take it easy.” Stiles grinned.

“When have I ever taken it easy?” He replied and Dr Fox sighed in defeat, “Look, I know you’re trying to help doc, but you’ve said it yourself, there’s nothing left to try, all you’d be doing is giving me a little extra time and I don’t need it.”

“What the hell do you mean you don’t need it!? You’re a child Stiles. You need as much time as you can get. We need to tell your dad; you need to say good bye to him.”

“No.” Stiles said firmly, slipping his shirt back on. “This is confidential, this is between me and you, he doesn’t find out, not now, not after I’m gone.”

“He’s going to find out Stiles, why don’t you just tell him now?” 

“Because I’m not going to let him go through that again. I’m not going to make him watch me waste away in a hospital like we had to do with mum. He doesn’t deserve to go through that again.” Stiles said angrily, “And you are not allowed to tell him, not under any circumstances.”

“And when you are dead? When you’ve died? How do I explain that to him?” 

“You won’t need to.” Stiles said, “When it gets that bad, I’ll have something to drink, I’ll go for a drive.” He said simply.

“Please tell me you aren’t suggesting what I think you’re suggesting? You aren’t suicidal?”

“No. I’m not. I don’t want to die. I’m terrified of dying. But I refuse to put my dad through that, do you understand me? If he thinks I got drunk and drove off the road, then that’s fine with me.”

“I’m going to call a counsellor, someone who can help with these feelings.” Dr Fox said.

“What? So they can talk me out of choosing how I die? So I can waste away in a hospital instead? Look, I’m not suicidal, I’m going to fight this every step of the way for as long as I can. But when I can’t fight anymore, I’m not going to wait for it to happen to me. I hope you can accept that.” 

“Fine.” Dr Fox relented. “How’s the pain?”

“I can manage.” Stiles replied as Dr Fox pulled out a bottle of pills and handed them to Stiles, he smiled at her gratefully.

“Well, take them anyway.” She said, smiling gently at him, “And you call me if you need me.” She added. 

“I will.” Stiles said solemnly. Dr Fox packed up her belongings slowly and then turned to Stiles.

“Can I ask you a question?” She said and Stiles nodded, “If you had a choice, knowing what you know now, would you still have saved them? If you knew it would kill you?” 

“Absolutely.” Stiles said without hesitation, “They were innocent kids, they didn’t deserve to die.”

“Neither do you.” Dr Fox said and Stiles shrugged.

“Most people don’t, but it happens anyway.” He said before grinning slightly, “Anyway, you’re writing me off much too early, I still have time, I’ve not quit yet, there’s still a chance of spontaneous remission.” Dr Fox snorted softly, a sad smile on her lips.

“Yeah, there’s always that hope.” She said, placing her hand on Stiles’ shoulder before leaving. 

“As you can see,” The reporter said, “it has become apparent that when Stiles saved two young children a few months ago he was exposed to a toxin, we were told at the time that this would leave his system within a few days, evidently this is not the case and will be responsible for his imminent death. You heard it here first on channel four news.” She continued as John turned the volume down, staring at the screen in mute horror. 

“We need to go see him.” John said, his voice dull with shock, was this why Stiles had kept his distance from them? Because he was dying, god, his son was dying, he was going to die. His phone was ringing and John picked it up with numb fingers, his hands shaking, god, Stiles was dying. “Hello?”

“John, it’s Melissa.” He grunted in reply, his voice didn’t seem to want to work properly, he couldn’t think straight, Stiles was dying. “It’s about Stiles.” Scott snatched the phone from John’s hands when he failed to say anything, his eyes full of concern.

“We saw the news mum.” Scott said quickly.

“What news?” Melissa asked in confusion.

“What do you mean what news?” Scott replied quickly, “Why are you calling if you haven’t seen it?”

“Stiles has just been brought to the hospital, he wasn’t conscious, his agent was on about some kind of seizure or something, he hit his head when he fell.” Melissa said, “I thought John needed to know.”

“We’re on our way.” Scott said quickly before hanging up the phone. “Come on,” He said to John, pulling him gently towards the door, “we need to get to the hospital.”

“Why the hospital?” Lydia said as the pack headed towards the cars.

“Mum said he had some kind of seizure and hit his head. He’s there now.” Scott explained slowly, watching as the tears formed in John’s eyes. The man was falling apart and Scott couldn’t believe this, he couldn’t believe that Stiles hadn’t told them this, that he’d had no intention of telling them this. The ride to the hospital was quick but quiet, all of them wrapped up in their own thoughts. 

Derek was reeling, how had he not noticed? Stiles was dying, he was dying and Derek hadn’t realized. He’d witnessed one of the nosebleeds, the dizziness that had Stiles leaning against a wall for support and Derek had convinced himself that it was nothing. No wonder Stiles didn’t want to be with him, anybody else would have noticed, he should have noticed. This was his fault. This was all his fault. 

When they got to the hospital Melissa was behind the front desk, checking something on the computer.

“How is he?” John said quickly, “Can we see him?” Melissa shook her head sadly. 

“No-one is allowed in. Rick said that we have to wait for his doctor to arrive and until then the room is off limits.”

“That’s insane.” John hissed angrily, “Stiles needs to see a doctor.”

“I know.” Melissa replied, “But we aren’t allowed in.”

“They can’t keep me out, I’m his father.” John said, “Tell me which room.” He pleaded.

“They won’t let you in John.” Melissa explained sadly, “I’m sorry but you can’t get in.”

“Tell us which room.” Derek growled and Melissa looked at him in shock, Derek hadn’t growled at any of them in so long it took them all by surprise.

“Room two ninety.” Melissa said quickly and Derek practically ran to the room. 

There were four guards stood outside the room and they tensed as soon as they saw Derek and the pack coming towards them. 

“Let us through.” Derek snarled.

“I’m sorry but this room is strictly off limits.” One of the guards said. 

“You will let me in to see my son right now.” John growled. The guards stood firm. 

“No-one is allowed in this room.” A second one said. “Under any circumstances.”

“I am the Sheriff.” John said, “Now, you can let me in right now or I will call my deputies down here. I’m sure that’s not something you want to get involved in.” Two of the guards squirmed slightly but the other two glared at John.

“We’re not doing anything wrong. You can’t arrest us.” 

“Try me.” John replied. One of the guards knocked on the door and a moment later Rick poked his head out, saw John and the rest of the pack and stepped out into the hallway, shutting the door behind him.

“Sheriff Stilinski.” Rick said, “Nice to see you.” He added.

“I want to see Stiles.” John said without hesitation and Rick squirmed slightly.

“I’m sorry, that’s not an option at the moment.” Rick said, leading them towards a room across the hall. “Look, Stiles is conscious, he’s okay, just a bit surprised to wake up in the hospital.”

“He’s okay though?” John said and Rick nodded quickly.

“He is. Well, as well as you’d expect him to be considering the circumstances.”

“We want to see him.” Lydia said and Rick shook his head.

“Stiles doesn’t want to see you.” Rick replied and there was silence. “He’s awake and he’s fine, but he’s said he doesn’t want to see any of you. Ed’s on his way though so he won’t be alone.” 

“We don’t care.” Isaac replied. “We want to see Stiles; we aren’t leaving until we do.” 

“Then you’ll be waiting a while.” Rick sighed, “Look, why don’t you go wait downstairs, I’ll try and talk him around, I’ll come and get you as soon as I’ve spoken to him.” He offered. 

“Fine.” Derek growled. “We’ll wait. But tell him that we aren’t leaving until we’ve spoken to him.”

“I will.” Rick said solemnly before leaving the room and going back to Stiles. Derek could hear Stiles’ heart beating on the other side of the door, could hear him breathing gently, as if asleep, he clenched his fists, ignoring the way his claws were digging slightly into the flesh. Stiles didn’t want to see them? Tough. Derek would not let him die, they’d find a way to fix this, Stiles might survive the bite, there had to be options, there had to be a way to fix this, and if there wasn’t then he wasn’t going to die without giving them the chance to say goodbye. Derek wouldn’t allow that. His heart pounding rapidly at the very thought of there not being a way to fix this, if Stiles dies, god, if he died, Derek didn’t think he’d survive it.

They sat in the waiting room for hours before Rick finally reappeared, Dr Fox had arrived and checked Stiles over, he hadn’t done any serious damage, just knocked himself out, none of them could do anything about the seizures so she was recommending that Stiles was free to go home. John sighed in relief. 

“Did you speak to him?” 

“I did.” Rick confirmed. “He still insists he doesn’t want to see you. I can’t convince him otherwise. He said to tell you, ‘please leave me alone, I’m not part of all this anymore, I got out. Please don’t drag me back into it. I just want you to leave.’” Rick quoted looking at them all sadly, “I don’t know what he meant by not being part of this, whatever this is, but I know he’s serious that he doesn’t want to see you. I’m sorry.” Rick said sincerely, turning on his heel and heading back to Stiles’ room. 

The pack all headed out of the hospital, Derek feeling so much anger towards Stiles that he didn’t know what to do with it. How could Stiles do this to them? Did he hate them that much? That he would deprive his dad, his best friends, all of them, of a chance to say goodbye. He was stood outside the hospital, staring up at the building, wondering what the hell was going on in Stiles’ mind when he heard it.

“Did he come?” Stiles’ voice, still sounding half asleep, drifted down to Derek from one of the windows upstairs and it stilled him in his tracks, he sounded so sad. He knew that the rest of the wolves had heard it from the way they froze as well. 

“I’m sorry Stiles.” That was Rick’s voice. “He couldn’t make it. I’ve got him on the phone though? If you want to speak to him.” 

“Yeah, yeah I would, please.” Stiles said.

“I’ll give you some privacy. Dr Fox is getting your paperwork; you’ll be out of here soon.” Rick said leaving the room. Derek strained to try and hear the voice on the other end of the call but he couldn’t hear anything. 

“Hey,” Stiles said, his voice sounding light and easy going, like he wasn’t in the hospital, scared and in pain and alone, it set Derek instantly on edge. “I didn’t want you to find out like this.” Stiles began but was cut off almost immediately. Derek wished he could hear the other side of the conversation. He imagined it was with Ed, he didn’t know who else Stiles could be speaking to.

“No, I know. I’m sorry.” Stiles replied, sounding on the verge of tears. “I have got a plan though.” He paused. “It might work.” Another pause while Ed spoke, “Not very high if I’m honest.” Stiles sighed. “It’s a magic toxin.” He supplied, Derek tried to hide his shock that Stiles had told Ed about magic, he couldn’t imagine Stiles telling anyone who was wholly human about that. “Right now I’m using every bit of magic I have to stop it from killing me, it should have done it that night, I should have died then.” Derek hated only hearing half of the conversation, he wanted to know what the hell was going on. “No, I understand that.” Stiles said, “Yes, I get that you’re mad. You shouldn’t have found out like that. I know. I’m sorry.”

Ed seemed to be talking almost constantly as Stiles went very quiet for the next few minutes.

“It’s a spell.” He said slowly, “I need to cast it on the night of the half-moon. If it works then it should cure me.” Stiles waited for a moment, “Well, not very high, about ninety percent chance it won’t make any difference and it’ll kill me.” There was another pause while Ed asked a question, “If it does work? Still not necessarily, there’s still a pretty high chance that even if I survive there will be brain damage, organ failure, memory loss, paralysis and so on. But there’s a chance, a tiny chance, that I’ll survive and I’ll be fine.” Another pause, “I have to try. The only other option I have is to wait for it to kill me, at least this way I have a chance.” Derek couldn’t agree more, even if whatever spell Stiles was planning on casting sounded like it was really bad idea.

“That’s the problem.” Stiles replied, “At the moment all my magic is going to slowing the spread of the poison, to cast the spell I’m going to have to redirect my magic. I might not even get to finish the spell before the poison kills me.” There was silence for a moment, Scott had tears running down his cheeks.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, I thought I was doing the right thing, keeping my distance like you asked.” Stiles said quietly. “But I have to ask, would you come with me? You don’t need to do anything, just be there. Please?” Stiles asked it was quiet for a few moments before Stiles let out a little sob and Derek felt his heart shattering, he would kill Ed for this. “There’s no-one else I want there.” Stiles whispered, “I’m scared and I don’t want to die and there’s a good chance it’s going to happen and I just want you there. Please? I don’t want to die alone.” 

Derek could feel the claws stabbing into the flesh of his palm, he couldn’t listen to this, how could Ed refuse Stiles like this? 

“No. Don’t worry.” Stiles said, Derek could imagine him wiping frantically at the tears in his eyes, Stiles trying to be as brave as he could be. “It’s fine.” Stiles said, “I understand. No, you need to do what’s right for you. I get it.” Derek was going to tear Ed’s throat out. “Would you do me a favour? Just tell them all how sorry I am, how much I miss them. I really wished we could have fixed all of this.” Ed spoke again and Derek was frowning, what the hell had been going on that Stiles didn’t have anyone he could turn to? That even though Ed rejected him, Stiles couldn’t ask anyone else? “Yeah, I’ll let you know, I’ll drop you a text if it works and if you don’t hear from me then I guess it didn’t.” Stiles was silent for a minute, Derek could barely contain his growl at that thought, no way, not a chance in hell was he letting Stiles go through this alone. “I want you to know I love you, I know things have been messed up these past months, and I know you didn’t want me around until things had settled, I understand all of that. I do. But you have to know, I love you. I love you so much. If this is our last talk, I really need you to know that.” Stiles said, his voice cracking slightly, Derek would murder Ed. He would murder him and he would enjoy it. “I love you, dad.” Stiles said before ending the call. 

Derek was frozen in shock, looking at John who had been watching the wolves intently, waiting for one of them to tell him what Stiles had been saying. 

“What…” Jason said, his voice cracking, “What did he just say?” Jason said in disbelief. “I heard dad, did you guys hear dad?” 

“I heard dad.” Jackson agreed.

“Me too.” Erica supplied, Boyd nodded.

“But if Stiles was talking to his dad…” Isaac said, looking at John in confusion. “How the hell could he have been?”

“Stiles was talking to me?” John said, “How? What? I didn’t hear him.”

“No. He was talking to you on the phone.” Erica said. “But he obviously wasn’t. You’re here. We must have heard wrong.”

“All of us?” Scott said. “We all heard him say dad.” 

“There will be an explanation for this.” Lydia said firmly. “We just need to go talk to Stiles.” Derek couldn’t move. His mind was racing, processing everything that Stiles had said, how could Stiles possibly think that John wouldn’t be there for him if he needed him, hell, even if he didn’t need him. Of course John would be there, they all would be. How could Stiles ever think otherwise?

They had to push through several reporters who had now gathered around the hospital, Derek wondered vaguely how they’d all found out about it so quickly but his mind was still on Stiles. If Stiles thought John didn’t want him around, until things had settled, whatever the hell that meant, then maybe this was why he’d been avoiding them, not wanting to speak to them. Derek couldn’t think clearly, just trying to wrap his mind around the idea that Stiles thought he’d been talking to his dad and he obviously hadn’t been. 

It took them fifteen minutes to get through the press and up to Stiles’ room, as soon as one of the reporters had recognised, first John and then Derek, all hell had broken loose and they’d had cameras and microphones shoved in their faces, questions screamed at them, until eventually they’d managed to make it back into the hospital. 

“Where is he?” Jason said as they got to the room and saw the open door. Derek stepped in the room, could smell Stiles, smell his sadness and guilt. 

“How could he have left?” Scott said. “We should have seen him shouldn’t we?”

“Not if they went out the back.” Allison said, “We came in through the front, along with the reporters, Stiles might have chosen to go out the back, where there wouldn’t be as many people?”

“We have to find him.” John said, “We have to tell him he wasn’t talking to me.” 

“Come on.” Derek said, following the scent of Stiles quickly through the hallways and out the back door. It disappeared in the car park and Derek could only assume he’d got in a car and left. “He’s probably gone back to the hotel. We should go there.” He was already heading towards their cars, knowing the pack would be right behind him.

“We need to figure out what did this.” Lydia said in the car, “Stiles thinks he’s been talking to his dad, how? And how long for?”

“What creature has the ability to do this?” Jason asked.

“I’ll check through the beastiary.” Allison said, pulling up the app that Stiles had created for them a few days before he left to film Spiderman, it was basically the beastiary in pdf format, it couldn’t be opened without a password so there was no risk of anyone else opening it by accident. She was already searching through, pulling up anything that had the ability to sound like another person. She had hundreds of hits. 

“It might not be supernatural.” Isaac said, “I mean, plenty of people can impersonate voices.” 

“We’ve got to assume it’s supernatural.” Lydia said. “We might be wrong but we have to narrow it down somehow, and knowing how the supernatural is attracted to Stiles, it’s more likely that that’s what’s doing this.”

They got to the hotel and found it swamped with reporters, Derek cursed, trying to get through that would be impossible and they didn’t even know if Stiles was going to be in there. There had to be a way to get to him, a way to let Stiles know that John would always be there for him, that they all would be. Then they had to figure out what the hell Stiles had meant about waiting for things to settle down, Derek wondered vaguely if he meant about cheating on Derek, maybe he was worried that everyone was mad at him, that he was staying away until everyone had calmed down. Although, Derek was sure none of the pack had ever given Stiles that impression, they’d all asked him to come home, but they’d never really shouted or screamed at him. 

They decided to wait until the crowd died down, that was a mistake, it only seemed to get worse, fans now turning up, waiting outside the hotel, tears streaming down their faces as they heard the news that Stiles was dying. Jackson, Boyd and Allison headed around to the back of the hotel to see if they could get in that way but that was filled with reporters too.

“There’s a bigger problem.” Jackson said as soon as they got back into the car, “We couldn’t smell Stiles at all, which means, either the reporters have covered his scent or…”

“Or they didn’t come back here.” Derek finished for him and Jackson nodded, “Where else would they go?” 

“Where would Stiles go?” John asked, his voice breaking slightly with emotion, Scott had told John what they’d heard of Stiles’ conversation and John had broken down into tears as he heard how Stiles had asked him to come with him, to be there with him, and John had evidently refused, what seemed worse was the fact that Stiles had accepted it so easily, understood that John wouldn’t be there, that it was fine, that Stiles would send him a text if he survived. John had sat there with tears streaming down his cheeks for what felt like hours. 

“We’ve got until the night of the half-moon.” Lydia said, “That’s when Stiles said he needed to cast the spell. So we have until then right?”

“Tomorrow night.” Derek said dully, unable to believe that this was happening, that Stiles was dying, that he would die alone if they didn’t do something. 

“I’ve narrowed it down to a few possibilities.” Allison said, “It could be an encantado, a siren or a shapeshifter.” 

“A siren isn’t likely.” Lydia said, “Their ultimate goal would be to seduce Stiles and suck the life out of him, it wouldn’t use John’s voice for that.”

“What about an, what do you call it, enchilada?” Scott asked.

“Encantado.” Allison said patiently, “they are mainly found in brazil, which makes them least likely, but they get off on the hardships of human society, they enjoy seeing others in pain, creating pain. Stiles is well known, famous, and he’s dying, that means it’s likely to be having a feast, not only on Stiles’ pain, but all the people who know who he is and who like him.”

“Aren’t they mainly water based though?” Derek asked, he’d spent too much time watching Stiles complete the beastiary. He tried not to think about those afternoons spent lazing in the sun, Stiles chewing on pens, his long fingers tracing the foreign words, glancing up at Derek every once in a while, a small smile on his lips. He couldn’t think about those times. They weren’t together. Not anymore.

“Yes.” Allison nodded, “Which makes it unlikely, but Stiles said he ran into one before, one night last year when he was in LA. So it is possible.”

“We can’t rule it out. It could be related to the one Stiles met previously, maybe that’s why it’s after Stiles?” Scott offered.

“What else do we know about it?” 

“It would have to be near Stiles to keep feeding on him. Someone close to him.” 

“Who?” Jason said, “There’s only really Rick and Ed as far as I know.”

“Except nobody has really seen him with Ed since the awards last month.” Erica said, “The magazines have said that it was probably all faked to get extra publicity for the film.”

“They obviously haven’t seen the photos we have.” Derek mumbled under his breath. Stiles might be dying, and Derek would do everything possible to stop that, but they weren’t together anymore, Stiles had made sure of that. 

“So it’s probably not Ed.” John said, “It’s more likely that it’s Rick. That little bastard.” John growled. 

“Okay,” Lydia said, “Let’s say it’s Rick, if Stiles doesn’t know what he is, which would be pretty huge considering how good he is at this usually, then how do we get to Stiles to tell him?”

“He’s not got his usual defences up.” Derek said, pausing when the whole pack looked at him in confusion, “I saw him the other night,” Derek explained, “He didn’t notice me following him back to the hotel, he should have noticed that, which means he hasn’t got his magic up and running like usual.”

“Okay,” Lydia said slowly, glancing at Derek in concern, “We’ll talk about your stalking tendencies later. So we know that the poison is magical, we also know that Stiles is using his magic to keep the poison at bay. What we need to do is figure out where he is, explain about Rick, and then help him figure out a way to cast the spell without it killing him.”

“Great plan.” Scott said enthusiastically. 

“Except we still don’t know where to start looking.” Isaac said sadly.

“Sniff him out.” Lydia said, opening the door. “You all know his scent, you can find him that way, split up, find him, call us, we’ll come and then we can go from there.” Lydia said, practically throwing them all out of the car.

Stiles had left the hospital feeling at a loss, of course he’d not wanted his dad to know about all of this, he’d worried that his dad would rush to the hospital, not let Stiles out of his sight, run himself into the ground trying to look after him, Stiles hadn’t wanted that to happen. It turned out he’d been worrying for no reason whatsoever, his dad knew now, the pack knew now, hell, the whole world knew now and still his dad hadn’t come. He hadn’t expected the pack to turn up, after all they’d made it clear that their loyalties lay with Derek, even though Stiles had never asked them to choose otherwise, but he’d expected his dad to come. Instead he got a phone call, where his dad said that he didn’t want Stiles dead, of course he didn’t, but he still wasn’t going to come and see him, because it would upset Leanne and Derek and that just wasn’t okay with John. 

Stiles had nodded and agreed and tried not to think about how much it hurt that his dad didn’t even want to see him to say goodbye. Then Stiles had explained to him about the spell, how his chances weren’t great but he was doing it anyway because if he didn’t he would definitely die. He hadn’t meant to beg his dad to be there, he had wanted to be strong, for his dad to think he was calm and in control and was confident this would work, but instead he found himself begging his dad to be there with him because he didn’t want to die alone. 

Sounding exactly like the scared child he was trying not to be. He was supposed to be better at this, he’d spent the past few months trying to appear as calm as possible, so that should he ever get to be with the pack again, he wouldn’t annoy them like he had before. Instead, the first chance he’d been given, and Stiles had cried and made a big deal out of this. He shouldn’t have. He should have just said it was fine and he’d manage, not begged his dad to be there with him.

John had still said no, told Stiles to text him if he made it through. Stiles couldn’t help the tears slipping down his cheeks then. But he nodded and agreed that he would, he couldn’t not tell his dad how much he loved him though, that after everything they’d gone through, his dad had to know that no matter what, Stiles loved him, still loved him, would always love him, and he didn’t blame him for not coming, that he would be okay. The last thing he wanted was for his dad to regret not being there in years to come, to sit back and think that he should have gone with Stiles, that he should have been there, should have been able to say goodbye. No, Stiles wouldn’t let him feel guilty about that. 

Which meant that as he left the hospital he didn’t have a clue how to feel right now, he felt lost, everyone he’d met since the pack had been kept at arm’s length, purely because Stiles couldn’t face the possibility of anyone else turning their back on him, finding out how annoying he was and turning away, if he didn’t care about them then they couldn’t hurt him. But right now it meant that he was alone, Rick didn’t count, his mind was always off on something else, Stiles’ next appearance, next film, how to get as much publicity as possible, Stiles couldn’t confide in him. So who could he turn to? He had no-one. For one tiny moment Stiles thought that maybe it would be better if he didn’t survive, but he shut that thought up almost immediately. He might not have people around him who supported him and loved him, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him, he’d saved lives, and if he stuck around, there was the possibility to save more. He wasn’t going to quit. He was going to live.

They got back to the hotel and Stiles took one look at the reporters swarming around the entrances before asking the driver to carry on, he couldn’t face that right now. Instead he directed him out of town, into the preserve, there was a few old holiday cabins out there that Stiles had hiked to with Derek and the pack in the months when they’d been together. He tried not to think about that, think about how happy he’d been, how much of a mess it was now. Rick looked at Stiles in confusion when they pulled up to the cabins but Stiles just shrugged. The cabins were in reasonable order, they’d only been out of use a few years, they still kept out the water and wind, they still had running water and Stiles thought it wouldn’t be hard to get electricity, not that he’d need it for long, this time tomorrow it would all be over, one way or another. 

He asked Rick to head back to the hotel and grab his bag, he hadn’t thought to grab it on the way to the hospital, but then, he had been unconscious so he guessed he could be forgiven for that. As soon as Rick and the driver were gone Stiles glanced around, picked out the cabin that was in the best condition and headed into it. He cast a small spell to tidy the place up and get the electric on, hating the fact that it made him feel so dizzy, he hated feeling so weak, once upon a time he could have done that without even noticing, now the simplest spell made his head spin. He headed to the bedroom, lay down on the bed, closed his eyes and slept. 

Stiles woke up to the sound of Rick opening the door and calling out his name gently. Stiles blinked slowly, his head ached but generally he felt okay, well, as okay as he was going to feel considering he was dying. 

“I brought food.” Rick said and Stiles nodded, already smelling the food coming from the kitchen. He sat down and pulled out the cartons of Chinese food. “You doing okay?” Rick said sounding concerned and Stiles nodded, he figured Rick was worried because, without Stiles, Rick would need to find a new client. 

“I’ll give you a good reference.” Stiles said and Rick looked at him shocked. “What like I can’t tell that you’re thinking about getting new clients?” He asked and Rick sighed.

“Yeah. I am.” Rick said honestly, “I know that’s probably the last thing on your mind, but I have to think about the future.”

“I know.” Stiles said, kind of relieved, because even if he did survive, he didn’t really want to have Rick as his agent anymore, as good as the guy was at his job, Stiles just didn’t like him, he always looked too smug about things and it annoyed Stiles.

“I’ll stick around though, you know, for the next few days?” 

“You don’t have to.” Stiles replied.

“No, but I’d like to.” Rick replied and Stiles looked at him in surprise, he hadn’t expected Rick to actually care. 

“Alright.” He said slowly, feeling a bit unsure as to why Rick wanted to stick around. Stiles went to bed not long after they’d eaten, he was exhausted and if he wanted to get through casting the spell before he died then he would need all the strength he could get. 

He fell asleep to the sounds of Rick moving around in the front room, visions of the pack fluttering behind his eyelids.

When Stiles woke the next morning he felt more at peace than he had done in weeks, he still felt weak, but the dizziness had faded slightly, he wondered vaguely if it was because of his proximity to the preserve, that after months of being away, he finally felt like he was home. 

Rick spent most of the day on the phone, fielding calls and questions, keeping the press as misdirected as possible, Stiles actually really appreciated it, it gave him the chance to prepare himself for the spell tonight. He stayed in his room, appreciating the quiet that surrounded the cabin, he wished Rick would shut up so he could soak up the sounds of nature that was all around them. He was preparing the potion that he would need for tonight, combining the four elements gently and carefully and then placing his silver knife into the potion, coating it in it. 

The day disappeared quickly, the sun starting its descent too quickly, Stiles wasn’t ready for this, he was scared, his hands shaking with nerves, he scrunched his eyes shut, took several deep breaths and focused on the fact that if he didn’t do this then he had no chance. He looked around the room at his meagre belongings, he didn’t need any of it where he was going, he had the silver knife he needed in his pocket, coated in the potion he’d made that morning, he’d memorised the spell, knowing the words off by heart easily, there was nothing else to do. There was no point in writing a note, if it worked he’d be back and if it didn’t he had nobody who would speak to him long enough for him to say goodbye. He headed out into the main room, Rick was still on the phone, apparently oblivious to Stiles wandering through the cabin and out of the door. 

He stepped out into the preserve, his heart pounding loudly in his chest, echoing in his ears, adrenaline flooding his system at the very thought that he was more than likely about to die. He wished his dad was here, he wished Derek was here. No. He couldn’t think about him, about any of them, he had to focus on the spell, on himself, he had to concentrate. 

He walked for about half an hour before he found a nice spot in the preserve, a small clearing surrounded by a number of trees both young and old. He settled to the ground, closing his eyes and just listening to the sounds of the preserve around him. He had to wait until the sun set, it wouldn’t be long now, only a matter of minutes, he tried to steel himself, this was going to hurt and he had to hold out, he had to find the strength to cast the spell. Once he’d cast the spell then all he had to do was live through it, he laughed slightly, he made that sound easy, casting the spell was going to be hard, living through its effects was going to be almost impossible. 

As soon as the sun started to set Stiles pulled out the knife, trying to ignore the shaking in his hands as he pulled off his shirt. He glanced down at the black poison that was running through his veins, it was spreading, the first few lines beginning to appear on his neck now, he was running out of time, he wouldn’t make it to next month to perform the ritual, it was now or never.

He pressed the knife against the skin above his heart and began to carve the symbol that would hopefully save his life and started the chant. 

“Cum aer mundabo me, cum ipsum me munda, et mundabunt terram in me, et ego in aqua munda me. Quod non mihi ministrat me industriae. Studia rogo, ut sanitas corporis pura luce replevit.” He chanted, feeling the magic being sucked out of him, a wave of dizziness overtaking him. He moved to his left wrist repeating the symbol and the chant, his vision was starting to blur by now, he just had to do his right wrist now, his hands were shaking violently as he began to cut the symbol into his right wrist, his voice slurring slightly as he carried on the chant, refusing to give up even though his vision was filled with black spots, his limbs feeling heavy and unresponsive. He had to finish it, if he had any chance of surviving, he had to finish it. 

He finished the final chant and sighed in relief, so weak that he was unable to stop himself from falling backwards so that he was sprawled on the ground, thick black blood was starting to seep from the cuts, it was working. He’d survived the casting of the spell, now he just had to survive the effects of it. It started like a slow burn in his lungs that got stronger and more unbearable the longer it went on, spreading all through his body, Stiles dug his fingers into the soil beneath him, trying to find a grip on something to hold himself, to stop himself from screaming, from losing himself in the pain. 

He gritted his teeth, fought back the scream that was working the way up his throat, god this hurt, he couldn’t have imagined how much this hurt, he could barely breath, every breath was agony tearing through his body, he could still see the black ooze leaking from the symbols at his wrists, this was taking too long, he wasn’t going to survive. His whole body seized, his back arching off the ground, his fingers trying to find purchase in the dirt, a hoarse scream torn from his throat, tears spilling down his cheeks. He scrunched his eyes up, trying to fight through the waves of pain, even though he knew it was useless. He was too weak, he wouldn’t survive, the poison had spread too much, there was too much left to leave his system, the blood still flowing black rather than red. His vision was swimming, his thoughts were muddled, he couldn’t think, he was fading. 

His grip on the ground began to loosen, his fingers no longer co-operating, his body not responding, his mind going blank, his last thought of his dad and the pack, a vision of Derek flickering behind his eyelids, a smile on his face, looking at Stiles sweetly. Stiles sighed, the breath leaving his lungs and not having the strength left to inhale any more air.

Derek and the pack had spent the whole night running around the town, unable to find anything, no trace of Stiles or Rick. By the time the sun came up they were all exhausted but Derek couldn’t rest, he knew they were running out of time, if they understood everything correctly Stiles would be completing the spell tonight, they had to find him before that, they had to let him know that they were there for him, they carried on the search.

Jackson and Isaac called late afternoon, they had caught a whiff of Stiles out near an old trail on the preserve. They all raced to meet them, when Allison mentioned the holiday cabins they’d gone to weren’t far from here Derek had stared in disbelief at her, he couldn’t believe he’d been so stupid. 

They jumped in the cars, racing towards the cabins as fast as they could, the sun was starting to set and Derek didn’t know how much time they had. They had to get to him. They had to get to Stiles. Derek slammed the brakes on as soon as they got to the cabins, relieved to see another car still there, he was out of the car a moment later, heading towards the cabin with the lights on, the pack right behind him, Stiles’ scent filling his nostrils, the sound of a heartbeat echoing inside the cabin. He relaxed just slightly, Stiles was still here, they’d made it in time. 

Stiles opened the door, looking at them in shock, as if surprised to find the whole pack on his doorstep. 

“What are you doing here?” He asked, his tone cold, his features frozen in shock.

“We came to talk to you Stiles.” John said quickly, stepping towards his son who took a step backwards. 

“About what?” Stiles asked, his whole body seemed tense and on edge, it made Derek want to growl, Stiles should never be this tense around them, he hated it.

“About the spell you’re going to cast tonight.” Lydia said abruptly, “Tell us what it is, how you’re planning on doing it, and we’ll see if we can help, and if we can’t help, then we’ll still be there. All of us.” Stiles stared at her with wide eyes. “Also to tell you that Rick is probably a encantado and it wasn’t your dad that you were talking to.” Stiles snorted with laughter.

“An encantado? You think that? Really?” He said, stepping out of the doorway and waving them into the cabin. 

“We narrowed down the possibilities.” Allison said, “That was the most likely.”

“You know that an encantado is supposed to have a blowhole at the top of their head, meaning that they have to wear a hat anytime they are in human form to cover it?” Stiles said, leaning against the kitchen counter. “You have noticed that Rick never wears a hat right?” Stiles added, evidently oblivious to the fact that Allison was looking at the beastiary in shock, her face flooding red with shame as she realized her mistake. 

“Regardless,” John said, “Maybe we didn’t get the name right, but the principle is the same, Stiles, whoever you were talking to on the phone in that hospital room, it wasn’t me.” John finished. 

The sun had set a few minutes ago and Lydia could feel an odd sensation in her stomach, one that she usually related to death, but Stiles wasn’t dying, not yet, he was standing right here in front of her. 

“It doesn’t make any difference.” Stiles said derisively.

“What doesn’t? We’re still here Stiles.” John pleaded, “We’ll be with you, until the end.” Stiles started laughing then and the pack looked at each other confusion.

Stiles straightened up a minute later, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes and wearing a look of such contempt that Derek stilled, he’d never seen that look on Stiles’ face before, he didn’t even know Stiles was capable of that look, not directed at them. Lydia had gone very pale next to him and Derek glanced at her, wondering what was wrong, she looked very unwell all of a sudden. 

“I’m sorry.” Stiles said still chuckling slightly, “I thought you’d guess straight away, I mean really, I should keep it up for a bit longer, but it’s just not fair is it?” Stiles asked, the room was in silence, looking at him in confusion, wondering what he was on about.

“You’re not Stiles.” Lydia whispered in the silence and all the pack turned to look at her while Stiles grinned widely.

“Glad one of you figured it out eventually. I mean, god, as much as I loved hearing you fall apart every time Stiles told you to go away, it’s not nearly as satisfying as seeing your faces right now.” Stiles said, shifting back to Rick and smiling at them. 

“You’re a shapeshifter.” Isaac said numbly and Rick grinned.

“Of course I am.” He replied. 

“Where’s Stiles?” Derek growled. 

“Why don’t you ask the banshee?” Rick smirked. 

“Tell me where he is!” Derek snarled, grabbing Rick and pinning him up against the wall. Rick shifted back into Stiles and Derek faltered for a moment, looking into Stiles’ eyes, the distrust and hurt there. 

“Derek, please.” Stiles said, his voice cracking in fear, and even though Derek knew that this wasn’t Stiles he couldn’t help but pause in his actions, this was Stiles, his Stiles, his eyes, one of the most expressive things about him, looking at Derek with fear. It wasn’t right.

“Derek it’s not him.” Scott said. Stiles grinned wickedly.

“You’re right, but it has been. So many times, for so long. You think it was really Stiles you spoke to when you dumped him?” Stiles said, grinning the entire time, “Oh no, that was me. When you begged him to come home, me again, in fact every time you’ve spoken to him in the last six months it was me, always me.” Stiles said, shifting back to Rick.

“I’ll kill you.” Derek said, slamming him back into the wall. 

“I’m sure you will.” Rick smirked, “Before you do though, there’s a few things you really need to know.” Rick said, Derek released his hold just slightly, “One,” Rick grinned, “I’m a shapeshifter not a encantado, please don’t mistake the two, it’s very rude.” He paused momentarily, glancing around the room before meeting Derek’s gaze, “Two, do you have any idea how much money I’ve made off Stiles!? I mean, seriously, leaking the tape about him dying, they paid me six hundred thousand dollars for that. The kid is a money mine. Literally. I’d like to thank you for that. Honestly. From the bottom of my heart. If you hadn’t dumped him, well, he wouldn’t have been in that house that night, wouldn’t have been sleep deprived and hurting, wouldn’t have been poisoned, and I wouldn’t have got to sell the story.” He grinned, staring at their stunned faces, “Three,” He grinned again, Derek didn’t want to hear anymore, he felt like he was going to be sick, “you honestly think Stiles would cheat on you? That one was all me.” Derek was stunned, his grip slipping slightly, his mind racing as he processed that fact, that Stiles hadn’t cheated on him, that Stiles had been loyal to him and Derek had repaid him by going out with other people. The feeling of throwing up was becoming more prominent.

“Any other points?” Erica said, snarling at Rick.

“Oh, yes,” Rick said, a smile on his face at the havoc he had caused. “Last point. You’re too late. Stiles left about an hour ago. He’s already dead. Isn’t that right banshee?” Rick said and they all turned to look at Lydia who was looking horror-struck.

“No. He’s not.” She said firmly, “Not yet.” She confirmed, running back towards the door and following the pull in her gut that would lead her to Stiles. 

Derek wasn’t going to waste time making Rick pay, he would give him a quick death, not what he deserved, but Derek had a more important priority right now which was getting to Stiles. He dug his claws deep into Rick’s chest, watching the shock freeze his features, obviously Rick had had a plan, someway he was going to get out of this and Derek had ruined it, Derek couldn’t help the hint of satisfaction he felt at that. Rick’s body dropped lifelessly to the floor and the pack turned to follow Lydia, John already hot on her heels, Jackson only a step behind her. 

Lydia knew they were running out of time, she’d felt it the instant she’d stepped out of the cabin, the feeling that Stiles was close to death, too close, she needed to find him and quickly. She slipped her heels off and ran barefoot through the woods, this was too important, she had to get to him. 

Derek picked up Stiles’ scent about ten minutes later, it smelled of pain and fear and it made Derek tremble in terror, he raced forwards, past Lydia and John, leaving the pack behind as he rushed to get to Stiles. He stumbled into the clearing a few minutes later and stumbled to a stop, his heart shattering, his knees giving way.

“Stiles?” He asked almost silently, his voice cracking with despair, as he knelt on the ground next to Stiles. Stiles was white, as pale as death, dirt caking his fingers where Derek could imagine him digging into the ground to try and hold on, black blood leaking from what looked like symbols on his wrists and chest, he wasn’t breathing, his heart wasn’t beating. It was too late. They were too late. 

John appeared in the clearing a moment later, letting out a cry of pure agony at seeing Stiles lying so still, so dead. 

“Move!” Allison said, rushing forward, practically pushing Scott out of the way as she crouched next to Stiles’ body, listening to the non-existent beating of his heart.

“It’s too late.” Isaac muttered, tears spilling down his cheeks as Stiles lay unmoving and Derek stared at his body in shock, feeling so weak and shaky he thought he might pass out. 

Allison ignored them all, starting to do chest compressions, Derek watched with a detached fascination as black blood still trickled from the wounds and Allison forced Stiles’ heart to keep beating. 

“Scott, I need you to do mouth-to-mouth, we need to make sure the oxygen is getting to his brain.” Allison instructed, taking charge of the stunned pack as she continued the chest compressions. “Jackson, call an ambulance.” 

“Allison…” Scott started but Allison glared at him. 

“Now Scott.” She ordered and Scott took up position next to Stiles’ head, ready to give him mouth to mouth as soon as Allison instructed. Lydia was holding on to John who looked on the verge of collapse, tears streaming down both their faces, Derek couldn’t look at that, look at any of them, all he could look at was Stiles. Stiles who was dead. He’d left them, he’d left them behind and Derek would never get the chance to make it right. 

“Ambulance is on its way.” Jackson said. 

“Erica, Isaac, go show them the way.” Allison ordered. “Come on Stiles. Don’t you dare quit on us.” She demanded. Derek knew he should be doing something, should be doing something to help or something to support John or any of the other members of his pack. Instead he was staring at Stiles’ body, tears running down his cheeks, his body in shock and unresponsive. He’d thought they’d made it in time. He’d thought he’d get a chance to fix things.

“What’s that?” Boyd said, pointing at the blood on Stiles’ chest, blood that was now pumping red. 

Stiles suddenly sucked in a deep breath and Allison and Scott both fell away from him in shock as Stiles’ body arched up slightly and then rested on the ground again, the major difference being that this time Derek could hear the slow beat of his heart, the black ooze seeping into the ground and killing the ground and plants that it touched, turning the ground below Stiles black. 

“Stiles.” He said, moving forwards instinctually, resting a hand against Stiles’ chest, seeing the red blood spilling from the cut and pressing a hand against it to stop it. “Stiles, can you hear me?” Stiles was breathing, it was weak and they were tiny breaths but he was breathing, his heart was beating. Derek was crying with relief now, running a hand through Stiles’ hair, trying to soothe him in whatever way he could, even if he didn’t know if Stiles could feel it, tears of desperation trickling down his cheeks. “Stiles, hold on, just hold on.” He half sobbed when Stiles didn’t show any reaction. “Please, please wake up.” He begged but still Stiles showed no reaction. 

“We need to stop the bleeding.” Lydia said, stepping up, colour coming back into her cheeks as Stiles breathed, as his heart beat. It didn’t take Allison and Lydia long to wrap material around his wrists, Derek was still pressing on the wound on his chest when the paramedics appeared, taking in the scene in confusion before rushing forward and assessing Stiles’ condition.

“He’s lost a lot of blood,” One of the paramedics said, “BP is dropping, heartbeat uneven.” 

“You’ve got to save him.” John said, speaking for the first time since seeing Stiles, “Please you have to save him.”

“What happened?” The second paramedic said.

“We’re not sure.” Erica explained, “We just found him like this.” 

“Looks like a suicide attempt.” The first muttered to the second paramedic.

“It wasn’t.” Allison said fiercely. “Now, help him.” She ordered, “We can argue about what happened and why at a later date but right now you save him.”

The paramedics both nodded quickly, looking a little taken aback at Allison’s anger. They got to work, stabilising Stiles as best as they could before moving him onto a stretcher and carrying him from the clearing, John clutching to his hand and begging Stiles to wake up. 

The pack followed them out of the preserve, to the ambulance and then got in their own cars and followed them to the hospital. 

John sat in the ambulance, watching as the paramedic worked on Stiles, each beat of his heart reflected on the machine and it was music to his ears. Stiles was alive, his heart was beating, he just had to hold on a little longer. 

“Hold on kid, just hold on.” John muttered, Stiles was still unresponsive and that worried John, he had hoped that he would have come around by now. 

Thankfully when they got to the hospital there were no reporters waiting for them. They unloaded Stiles easily and rushed him into the hospital, shouting out instructions, telling John that he couldn’t come any further and would have to wait for the doctors to come out and see him. By the time the rest of the pack arrived John was slumped in one of the waiting room chairs, his head in his hands. 

“What’s happened?” Scott said in worry, “Is he okay?”

“As far as I know.” John said wearily, now that they had found Stiles and eliminated the threat, the exhaustion was settling in. “We’re just waiting for more information.”

“Mum’s on shift tonight, I’ll see if she can find anything out.” Scott said, heading to the main desk as the rest of the pack sank into the nearby seats.

“Did he come around in the ambulance?” Derek asked, watching at John shook his head sadly. “What did the paramedics say?”

“I don’t know.” John sighed, “They were worried about how long he wasn’t breathing for, how long his brain didn’t have oxygen, I told them I didn’t know, that Allison had started compressions as soon as we found him.”

“They’re worried about brain damage?” Lydia asked and Derek flinched at her words, the thought of brain damage hadn’t even crossed his mind. 

Scott reappeared a moment later, sinking into the seat next to them.

“I’ve got a message to my mum, she’s going to try and find out everything she’ll let us know as soon as she can.” He informed them.

“I guess we just have to wait then.” Erica said. 

“How long do you think it’ll take them?” Isaac asked. 

“I don’t know.” Scott said. “But they’ll let us know as soon as they know anything, I’m sure.” 

Derek closed his eyes and concentrated, trying to locate Stiles’ heartbeat in amongst the hundreds of others in the hospital, after two hours with no luck he gave up. Terrified that it meant that Stiles’ heart had stopped again, but after a lot of reassurance from Lydia he decided that there was just too much interference to hear him clearly.

It was nearly four hours later when Melissa came through the doors and walked across to them. 

“Melissa,” John said, getting to his feet, “How is he? Have you seen him?”

“He’s critical, but he’s stable John.” Melissa said quickly and there was silence as they waited for more information, “The doctors should be out soon to talk to you.”

“What about…” John took a deep breath, “what about the possibility of brain damage?” He asked and Melissa looked at him sorrowfully. 

“I really think you need to speak to the doctors.” Melissa said and John looked on the verge of passing out. 

“So, what does that mean?” Allison asked.

“I know they’ve run several tests.” Melissa said, “It appears that Stiles was without oxygen to his brain for a significant period of time.” She said quietly and Derek felt like his heart was breaking all over again, he couldn’t keep doing this, he couldn’t keep losing Stiles. 

“Which means what?” John asked. 

“The doctors should talk to you about that.” Melissa sighed. Just as John looked ready to demand she give them some proper answers a doctor appeared and John jumped up from his seat ready to find out what was going on. 

“Doctor, can you tell me what’s happening with my son?” John said and the doctor glanced around the room before leading them to an enclosed waiting room and shutting the door.

“Sorry about that, but with your son being quite well known I thought you’d want the privacy.” The doctor said, “Stiles’ doctor, Doctor Fox, is with him at the moment, she’s running a few tests but she believes, although she has no idea how, that the poison has all been successfully removed from Stiles’ system. It’ll take a few days to confirm, but she is pretty confident that the poison is no longer effecting him.”

“So why didn’t he wake up?” John asked and the doctor sighed.

“Sheriff Stilinski, unfortunately Stiles’ heart stopped and he stopped breathing, none of us are quite sure how long that was for. At the moment we’re running several tests to try and figure out what damage was caused during that period.” 

“What kind of damage?” John asked, his voice shaky, the doctor looked at him with sad eyes.

“There’s the possibility of organ failure, it’s a minimal risk and we should know for definite within the next twenty-four hours.” He paused, “The bigger concern we have at the moment is how long Stiles’ brain was deprived of oxygen. If it was longer than six minutes then there is a strong possibility of brain damage, a strong chance that Stiles won’t wake up, and if he does, that he may not be able to move or speak, or show any signs of recognition or communication at all.”

“How will you find out?” Lydia asked, an arm around John as he swayed on the spot. 

“We’ll run further tests. An MRI scan should be able to show any brain activity. That should give us an idea. However, I want to warn you that we don’t expect the results to be favourable.”

“I don’t understand.” Scott muttered, “He started breathing again, his heart was beating again. How can this be happening?” He said, leaning on Allison for support.

“Stiles will be fine.” Allison said reassuringly, “He’s the strongest out of all of us, he’ll come through this. He will.” She said, her voice filled with determination and belief. Stiles wouldn’t leave them, not like this. 

The doctor excused himself a few minutes later, Derek couldn’t sit for another moment, he needed to see Stiles, he needed to know he was okay. 

“Will you please sit down?” Lydia said, patting a seat next to her. “You’re going to wear a hole in the floor.” Derek frowned at her before sinking down into a seat and folding his arms across his chest. He hated all this waiting. 

“What about Rick?” Isaac asked hours later. “What if someone finds his body?”

“It’ll look like an animal attack.” John replied dully. “He didn’t deserve such a quick death. I can’t believe he’d been playing us all like that for so long.” 

“He’s dead now. There’s nothing else we can do about it.” Lydia said. “We should all focus on what’s important. Right now, that’s Stiles.”

Eventually none of them could stay awake any longer, the past couple of days had brought new meaning to the word exhaustion. Derek woke up when the door opened and the doctor walked in, looking at his clipboard before glancing up at the sleeping pack.

“Did you get the results?” Derek asked quietly, not wanting to wake John or any of the others, not yet. The doctor nodded and Derek didn’t know what to take from that.

“It’s good news.” He whispered. “Stiles’ brain shows definite activity. We’re hoping, with the right treatment, he should wake up in a few days.”

“Will he be okay?” Derek asked, “Like able to walk and talk and know who we are?” 

“We can’t say for definite, not yet, but it’s looking possible.” The doctor said, Derek smiled widely, pulling the man into a hug and holding him tightly.

“Thank you.” Derek whispered, repeating it over and over. “God, thank you so much.” 

“It’s not positive.” The doctor replied seriously, obviously not wanting Derek to get his hopes up.

“No. I know. But it gives us a chance, gives him a chance.” Derek said, finally letting go of the man. “Thank you.” He repeated. The doctor glanced around the room at the rest of the sleeping bodies, “I’ll tell them as soon as they wake up.” Derek said, “Do you know if we can go see him?” 

“We’re still carrying out some tests.” The doctor said, “And we’ll have to clear it with Doctor Fox, but I’ll come and let you know as soon as you can.”

“Thank you.” Derek said again as the doctor left, sinking down into his seat, holding his head in his trembling hands, he’d never felt so relieved in his life. He knew the pack needed to sleep, but he couldn’t not tell John about this. He moved towards the man, shaking him gently awake. John looked at him with worry, glancing around the room at the sleeping pack before his gaze resting on Derek again.

“What happened?” John whispered, no trace of sleep in his voice.

“The doctor came in.” Derek informed him, “It’s good news. Stiles’ brain shows signs of activity and they’re hoping that in a few days he’ll be awake.” John pulled him into a tight hug, holding Derek so tightly that Derek was surprised with the strength of it.

“Oh, thank god, thank god.” John muttered over and over, Derek couldn’t help but agree with him. “Can we go see him?”

“Soon.” Derek said, “They’re just running a few more tests and then we can see him.”

It ended up being another seven hours before they were allowed in to see Stiles, and even then it was only two people and for a short amount of time. There was no question that it would be John and Derek that went in to see Stiles, both of them following the doctor silently, their minds filled with thoughts of Stiles. 

Stiles was lay in a bed, a long sleeved shirt covering the bandages on his chest and at his wrists, wires disappearing under his shirt, hooking him up to several machines, he still looked too pale, too still, an oxygen mask over his mouth to help him get as much oxygen as possible, needles stuck into the veins in the top of his hands some kind of medicine flowing through them and into his system. He looked peaceful, even if the shadows under his eyes showed how exhausted he must be.

John sat down next to Stiles, hesitating for a moment before resting a hand on his arm.

“Stiles, kid, I don’t know if you can hear me or not, but I’m here, Derek’s here, we’re all here. We’re just waiting for you to wake up. So, when you feel up to it, you open your eyes and we’ll be here. But do it sooner rather than later kid, there’s a lot I need to tell you and I need to make sure you hear me.” John stroked Stiles’ hair gently, looking on the verge of tears, “I love you Stiles, I love you so much. Please wake up.”

They had to leave not long after that and Derek could see how much it was breaking John’s heart to leave Stiles. They headed back to the pack, told them that Stiles was still asleep but that he seemed to be okay. Derek instructed them to go home, to rest, Stiles was going to be out of it for another few days at the very least. Eventually they all agreed but Derek couldn’t bring himself to leave the hospital, he was terrified of something happening to Stiles while he wasn’t there. 

Unfortunately, life didn’t wait for them, they all wanted to be at the hospital every minute of the day, but they had jobs to do, college to go to, work to be completed. That didn’t just all stop. Lydia created a schedule which meant that two members of the pack would be at the hospital at all times, Derek wasn’t going to ask how she organised that, sometimes she just amazed him. Four days after Stiles was admitted the doctor informed Erica and Jackson that Stiles was showing signs of waking up and he expected that he’d wake later that day. They weren’t allowed in the room while Doctor Fox ran some more tests, they didn’t really mind, it gave them time to go outside of the hospital and ring the pack to give them the good news. Derek and John were both due to finish a shift in the next hour and said they’d be there as soon as possible. Scott and Allison were on their way. Lydia and Isaac were at college and Boyd was at work but said they’d come across as soon as they finished. Jason had another few hours to film but then he’d be there without a doubt. It felt like things were finally starting to work in their favour. 

Stiles woke up slowly, his head was throbbing and his throat hurt, but otherwise he didn’t feel too bad, no more painful ache in his chest that wanted to suck everything out of him. He blinked his eyes open a few minutes later, the room slowly coming into focus around him. He was in a hospital, yes, the beeping next to his bed definitely indicated a hospital, he glanced around, there was a woman stood next to his bed, a faint smile on her face, but she still looked sad, like she could be about to cry.

“Stiles?” She asked and Stiles blinked up at her, he knew her, somehow, he was sure he did. She was holding a needle, inserting it into a bag next to his bed, dripping slowly into his system. He felt very drowsy, very tired, he should probably go back to sleep. “Don’t worry Stiles, it’s just to help you sleep for a little while. You’ll feel better then.” The woman said. 

Just as he was drifting back to sleep her name popped into his mind.

“Dr Fox?” He slurred and she smiled.

“Yes, that’s right Stiles. That’s really good.” She encouraged, Stiles couldn’t fight it any longer, not that he was really trying, he was too tired to feel like fighting, he just wanted to rest, his eyes slipped closed and he drifted back to sleep. 

They had all arrived at the hospital by the time they were actually allowed back in to see Stiles, Derek was pacing nervously up and down the hall, chewing on his thumb nail, hoping that it would be good news. Doctor Fox had told one of the other doctors that Stiles had woken up for a few moments earlier in the day, but that he’d then go back to sleep, but not before he’d said her name. It only encouraged them, if Stiles could remember her then he had to remember them. 

Derek was a little worried about the press, who had appeared a few hours after Stiles’ admission and had now set up permanent camp outside the hospital, thank god that John had threatened them all with disruption of the workplace if they stepped foot inside the hospital. Derek wasn’t sure how much longer that would hold up, especially if news got out that Stiles had woken up. He glanced out of the window, rain had started lashing down in the past few minutes, pounding against the side of the hospital, hitting the ground so hard that it bounced back up at least two foot. Derek heard the rumble of thunder nearby and knew that keeping the reporters out was going to be even more difficult now that a storm was rolling in.

The doctor escorted them to Stiles’ room almost an hour later, the curtains drawn to block out the storm still raging outside, it was the first time that they’d all been allowed to enter together and Derek hated the worry that he could smell coming from his pack members. He was sure they could smell his worry too, if he was honest with himself it was bordering more on panic than worry, panic that Stiles wouldn’t know them or panic that he would and would still want nothing to do with them. 

He didn’t have much time to worry, one minute Stiles was fast asleep, his breathing slow and even, the next his heart was speeding up, his eyes blinking open slowly, taking in his surroundings, looking at the pack. 

“Dad?” He croaked, his voice distorted and muffled slightly through the oxygen mask, raising one of his hands weakly in John’s direction. 

“Hey kiddo.” John said, tears in his eyes, going to Stiles’ side quickly. “How are you feeling?” 

“Tired.” Stiles replied, “You came?” He said, his eyes slipping closed again already.

“Of course Stiles, of course I did. I’ll always come. No matter what.” John said, his words rushed, desperate to get the message across to Stiles before he fell asleep again. 

“Love you.” Stiles mumbled, his voice trailing off as he went back to sleep.

“I love you too kid, I love you so much.” John whispered to the now sleeping Stiles.

“That’s good though?” Isaac asked a few minutes later, “That he knew who you were? That he remembered asking you to come? Right?”

“Yeah, that’s good.” Lydia said, sinking into one of the chairs. 

Stiles woke up again a little while later, the doctors insisting that they leave so they that could run some tests while he was awake. When they were allowed back in Stiles was asleep again and Derek couldn’t help but be frustrated by that, however, the doctors had good news, Stiles’ brain activity seemed normal, his movement and speech skills were as expected, he was still drowsy and weak, but over time, as he healed, they fully expected everything to return to normal, his memory was a bit of a mess, he could remember the general information they asked him, but he was struggling with specifics, they hoped that this was just because of the disorientation that Stiles was experiencing, though they couldn’t say for definite at this moment, only time would tell. 

The rest of the pack decided to head home around eleven in the evening when Stiles still showed no signs of waking up again, the storm seemed to have picked up in intensity, battering the hospital relentlessly. Derek wanted them to get home before it got any worse, they didn’t need to be here to watch Stiles sleep, John and Derek would watch out for him and let them know if anything changed. 

Stiles woke up again in the early hours, John was asleep in the chair next to his bed, Derek watched as Stiles blinked a few times before slowly turning to settle his gaze on Derek. Derek was glad no-one else was here, they probably would have laughed at the way his heart stuttered. 

“Stiles.” He said in greeting. 

“What are you doing here?” Stiles asked in confusion.

“I came to see how you were doing, and to keep your dad company while you slept.”

“Why?” Stiles asked again, his voice still drowsy with sleep and Derek stared at him confused, “Why do you care?” Stiles added when Derek didn’t say anything. “You didn’t want me in the pack. I stayed away. Why are you here now?”

“What are you talking about?” Derek said, “Of course I wanted you in the pack, I know that we aren’t together anymore, but that doesn’t mean you stay away from the pack, you are pack. I care about what happens to you.”

“You don’t.” Stiles said sullenly, his face creasing slightly in concentration, as if trying to remember something, before sighing heavily, “I’m not sure how, but I know you don’t care. I know that.”

“Stiles, look, there’s a lot we need to talk about.” Derek began, “A lot we need to fix. I know you want that too. You said to someone who you thought was your dad that you wanted to fix this.”

“What do you mean who I thought was my dad?” Stiles asked, looking exhausted but his eyes still staring at Derek with curiosity. Derek took a deep breath and began.

“Rick was a shapeshifter. He was the one you’ve been speaking to on the phone, not your dad. We’ve been speaking to him too, we didn’t realize that, we thought we were talking to you.”

Stiles stared at him speechless, his face going a shade paler which worried Derek immensely, he moved forward, touching Stiles’ arm gently, then backtracking because he couldn’t do that, not anymore. 

“So when I spoke to my dad, or Scott, or Jason, or any of the others, that was Rick?” Stiles whispered looking thunderstruck. Derek nodded, hating the fact that Stiles looked to be on the verge of tears, hating the fact that he hadn’t realized it had gone this far, he thought Rick had only impersonated Stiles and John, not all of them too. “And when I spoke to you?” 

“It wasn’t me Stiles.” Derek said quickly, “Whatever was said it wasn’t me.” 

“I can’t remember.” Stiles muttered, “I was on the phone to you, we were talking, I wanted to tell you about some spell I learned,” Stiles frowned in frustration, “You told me you didn’t want me, that we were over, that I wasn’t what you wanted, that I never would be.” 

“Stiles, no.” Derek said horrified, “No, that’s not true.” Stiles didn’t seem to have heard him though, because he still has his eyes closed, concentrating on the memories that were eluding him. 

“When I spoke to Scott he said you had a new girlfriend, that’s why you’d dumped me. Then they all told me to stay away, until things had settled, until Leanne had moved in with you. I wasn’t sure when things would ever be settled, and then I didn’t think I’d make it anyway, that I would die before we fixed anything.” Stiles paused, “Why can’t I remember where I was?” He said, anger colouring his tone, “I should remember that shouldn’t I?” Stiles said, “I mean, if I can remember the conversation, remember the feeling of someone punching a hole through my chest when I found out, I should remember where I was? Shouldn’t I?” 

“It’ll take time Stiles.” Derek said trying to soothe him, “But it will all come back to you, I’m sure.”

“Was any of it true?” Stiles asked quietly, “Are you dating Leanne?”

“I don’t even know any Leanne’s.” Derek said, a small smile on his lips. “I didn’t dump you because I was with anyone else, or because I wanted to be with anyone else.” He paused, he knew this was going to upset Stiles, “Rick came to see me one afternoon, he had pictures of you and Ed, kissing. I called you, confronted you about it, you admitted it was a mistake, but that you had done it. I dumped you because I was sure you were about to dump me, or at least continue to cheat on me and treat me like an idiot.”

“I wouldn’t do that.” Stiles said fiercely. “I hate Ed, despise the guy. Nearly as much as I hate Rick right now. But I loved you. I wouldn’t have cheated on you. Not ever. I know that much for definite.” There was a pause as Stiles swiped at his eyes and Derek stared at him in shock, trying to process the fact Stiles had just said he loved him, loved him as in past tense, as in he didn’t love him anymore. “What happened to Rick?” Stiles asked angrily, changing the subject quickly.

“Dead.” Derek whispered.

“You killed him?” Stiles asked, Derek could have sworn Stiles looked angry, almost grief-stricken, for a moment but then it was gone.

“Yes.” Derek admitted. “We had to get to you. We couldn’t let him live. Not after what he’d done.” 

“You’re right.” Stiles replied, closing his eyes and leaning his head against his pillow.

“Stiles,” Derek began, not sure where he was going with that sentence, did he tell him that he was still crazy about him? Tell him that he would have done anything to just be able to hold Stiles right now? No. He couldn’t. They split up. They were over. It was Derek’s fault. He should have believed that Stiles wouldn’t have done that, but now? Now there was no way back for them. Stiles had spent the past six months apparently believing that Derek had a new girlfriend, that he wasn’t welcome in the pack and that he couldn’t come home. Derek was completely aware of what a mess he’d made and he’d do his best to fix it, but it wasn’t the priority, right now they needed to focus on fixing things between Stiles and the pack. “I am sorry, about everything.” Derek said quietly and Stiles nodded minutely, the movement barely perceptible before Stiles turned away from Derek slightly and went to sleep. Derek tried not to feel hurt by that.

It took three days before the hospital said Stiles could go home, he was still quiet and pale and even when he smiled it felt forced. Thankfully John had convinced Stiles to stay at his house, Derek didn’t think he would have been able to bear it if Stiles had left town, as it was his wolf was howling at him almost permanently to fix things, to take Stiles to their home, to keep him there, where he was safe. 

Two days after his release from hospital John announced that they were both coming around to the Hale house. Derek spent the entire morning trying to tidy up as much as possible and then pacing nervously, he wanted to go for a run to burn off some off his energy, but the storm was still raging and he didn’t think it was a good idea for any of them to be out in the woods right now, not when the wind had already taken down several trees. Derek was worried about if Stiles would actually turn up, and if he did, how he would react. Would he prefer it if his possessions were still on display as they had been? Or should Derek remove them as it may only upset Stiles?

He didn’t know what to do for the best, what Stiles would want, it would help if Stiles knew what he wanted. There were still whole sections of his memory that seemed to be missing, Derek hated when Stiles frowned, his face tight with frustration as he struggled to remember bits of missing information. Oddly though, it only seemed to be specific times that Stiles couldn’t remember, what he could remember was perfectly clear, there were no gaps of confusion, which made the missing time even more annoying. 

John drove slowly up to the house, the storm that had raged the past few days only seemed to be getting worse, Stiles was leaning his head against the window, obviously lost in his own thoughts, John wanted to ask what he was thinking about, but he wasn’t sure, these past few days had made him realise that he didn’t know his son anymore. 

The whole pack was waiting in the living room when they arrived, Stiles looked a little overwhelmed before finally smiling gently at them. 

“Hey guys.” He said, Jason jumped up to hug him, it took Stiles a second before he responded, seemingly shocked by the greeting. Jason clung onto him for another few minutes before finally pulling away. 

“I’m sorry, Stiles, I’m so sorry.” Jason sobbed.

“You don’t need to be sorry.” Stiles replied. “I’m the one who’s sorry. I should have realised that Rick was playing me. I’m sorry.”

“No. Stiles,” Scott said, jumping to his feet, “we were all fooled by him, but it’s no-one’s fault. You’re not to blame, none of us are.”

“Still…” Stiles said quietly.

“No.” Derek said forcefully, “Rick tricked us all. That’s all there is to it.” He said, trying not to think about how fragile Stiles looked, how upset he looked at the mention of Rick. 

“Who wants a drink?” Lydia said, breaking the tension in the room. The rain was slamming into the windows, thunder rumbling in the sky above them, Derek tried not to think about the times when Stiles had sat here before, when he’d been angry and confused and the thunder rumbled outside as he struggled to contain his magic. 

“You don’t have anything to do with the storm do you?” Derek asked suddenly and Stiles looked up at him in shock.

“No.” Stiles said defensively, “Of course not. Why would you even think that?” He snapped.

“Okay.” Derek replied, putting his hands up in surrender, not meaning to upset Stiles, “I was just thinking that it always used to thunder when you were upset.” 

“Well, this is a little more than thunder, don’t you think?” Stiles said sarcastically.

“Alright,” Derek said calmly, “I’m sorry.” He was a little concerned over why Stiles had snapped at him like that. Stiles sighed heavily, rubbing his hands over his eyes, dragging them down his face.

“No, I’m sorry.” He said, “Look, it’s just going to take me a little time to adjust, just like I’m sure it’s going to take all of you a little time too. I shouldn’t have snapped like that. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Derek replied, trying hard not to think about pulling Stiles into a hug and holding him tightly. Instead he sat down in the nearest seat, grabbing a cup of coffee from Lydia and watching as Stiles stood nervously for a few minutes before heading over to the window and looking at the storm outside.

“So I know what Rick told me,” Stiles said a few minutes later, “most of it anyway, I know what he said when he was pretending to be you guys. But I’d like to know what he said to you, when he was pretending to be me.” There was silence as Stiles settled into a seat near Derek. Derek would not think about how much that settled his wolf, he wouldn’t. 

“Pretty much just to leave you alone.” Jason piped up, “To stay away from you, give you time to figure some things out. We all thought you were with Ed, you know, together, as a couple.” Stiles looked at him, obviously revolted at the thought but didn’t say anything, allowing Jason to continue, “I hoped you’d realise what a mistake you were making and come home. But then you quit the show and when I tried to talk to you about it you just said you’d made your decision and to leave you alone.”

“I quit the show because I was dying.” Stiles muttered, “I love the show, of course I didn’t want to quit, I told Andy that, but I was dying and I couldn’t exactly promise that I was going to be around for the whole series.”

“When did you tell Andy?” Jason said shocked, although he supposed that it made sense, it would explain why Andy had let Stiles out of the contract. 

“The night of the awards.” Stiles supplied, “I didn’t want him to know, but I couldn’t not tell him, not when he was planning the whole season around me.” 

“Will you come back? You know, now you aren’t dying anymore?” Jason asked nervously. Stiles paused for a few moments, obviously thinking it over.

“Probably.” He said, “It’s weird, I didn’t imagine the spell would actually work, I didn’t believe I’d actually have to think about the future again, what I want to do with the rest of my life, it’s weird.” John looked on the verge of tears and Stiles grinned at him sheepishly, “But it did and I’m here. So, yeah, I’ll probably come back, if Andy will have me.”

“I can call him and ask him.” Jason said quickly, a wide grin on his lips.

“Maybe not just yet.” Stiles answered, “I still need a little time, you know, try and sort all these gaps in my memory out first.” 

“Are they not getting any better?” Lydia asked and Stiles shook his head sadly.

“There’s whole days that seem to be missing, it’s a complete blank, just whole periods of nothing.” He admitted.

“Could you not cast a spell? You know try and get the memories back that way?” Jackson suggested as Stiles shook his head.

“I can’t even cast a simple spell, not anymore, it’s like the magic has just gone. I can remember how to do it, at least some of it, but I can’t actually get it to do it.” Stiles said honestly.

“So you’ve lost your powers?” Scott said shocked, “Is it something to do with the spell you cast to get rid of the poison?”

“I don’t know.” Stiles shrugged, “I’m trying to figure it out. It shouldn’t be the spell, that was only a spell to cleanse my body from unwanted energy, it shouldn’t have removed my magic, but I just don’t know. Not many people have ever cast it before, so I can’t ask anyone if they’ve had the same results. I just,” He sighed heavily, “I don’t know, I don’t know if it’s gone for good or if it’ll come back. I don’t know if the spell did it or something else. I just, I hate not knowing, but I don’t.” Stiles confessed.

“We’ll figure it out.” Allison said, “We’re here for you, we’ll figure it out together, and even if it’s gone, we’ll still be here.” 

“Of course we will.” Erica grinned and Stiles returned the smile slightly, although Derek could tell it looked forced. He’d known Stiles well enough to know when he wasn’t really happy, only faking it. 

“If that’s what you want.” He added and Stiles glanced at him with wide eyes.

“Of course it is.” Stiles said, Derek thought maybe he’d mistaken the smile, that maybe he didn’t know Stiles as well as he thought he had. He didn’t miss the glance that John shot his way, as if he was confused as well, because he’d been sure Stiles was faking it. But, if Stiles wanted to fake it until he felt like it was right then Derek would let him.

They chatted for a little while longer before John suggested that they head home. It was obvious to Derek that none of the pack wanted them to leave, thankfully they’d only been gone for a few minutes when they returned, looking very windswept.

“There’s a tree down across the road.” John said, “We thought it might be a good idea to stay here for the night, head home in the morning when it should have let up slightly. I’ve never known a storm to go on this long before.” 

“No problem.” Derek said quickly, although his mind was racing, having Stiles sleeping in the same house was going to be hard, but he’d survive it, he had to survive it, especially if Stiles was going to be getting involved with the pack again, if his scent was going to be everywhere again. 

Stiles sat on the couch next to Isaac when Scott put a film on, his whole body seemingly tense for ages, before he finally began to relax. They were all feeling a little cooped up, they hadn’t been able to go out for a proper run in nearly a week and it was hard, but having Stiles back with them seemed to ease some of the tension, it felt like they were complete again and that was important.

Around midnight Stiles fell asleep on the couch, leaning gently on Isaac who had a small grin on his face. A little while after that the rest of the pack started to head to their rooms, Derek hesitated, in the past he would have scooped Stiles up, carried him to their room and let him snuggle into their sheets. There was no chance of that happening now. Instead Derek pulled a blanket over him, stroking his hair gently, letting out a long, quiet sigh about how much he had messed everything up, before disappearing up to his room and falling asleep quickly, focused on the sound of Stiles’ heartbeat.

Derek woke up to the sound of rain hammering against his window, it didn’t sound like the storm had let up at all, he wandered over to the window, stared up at the swirling mass of grey and black clouds and sighed, he wondered how much longer this could go on for. He watched the rain for a moment before movement at the treeline caught his eye and then he nearly had a heart attack. He raced down the stairs, ignoring the looks from his pack as they stuck their heads out of their rooms.

“Stiles!” He called out as soon as he ran through the back door, Stiles turned around to look at him, “What the hell are you doing!?” He shouted in shock. Stiles was walking in the rain, his whole body soaked, wet clothes clinging to him, Derek was sure he’d seen anger in Stiles’ eyes for only a moment before it disappeared and then he was looking at Derek in surprise.

“What am I doing?” He asked confused, “What are you doing? You always go out for a walk in just your boxers?” Stiles said arching an eyebrow at him. Derek realized then that he was still in just his boxers, but he’d been in such a rush, he’d seen Stiles out by the trees, couldn’t figure out what the hell he was doing, and had raced down the stairs to get to him as quickly as possible before he got pneumonia or something similar. Derek blushed slightly, but he was too worried to care.

“I’m a werewolf Stiles, I run hot. What about you? You want to die of hypothermia?” He asked moving quickly towards Stiles.

“I was only out for a walk.” Stiles replied.

“In the middle of the worst storm we’ve had in years?” Derek said incredulous, glancing to the sky as another roll of thunder echoed through the clouds. Stiles laughed gently and Derek froze in shock, he hadn’t heard Stiles laugh in so long he was sure his heart was about to shatter. 

“You’ve always been such a drama queen.” Stiles snorted and Derek couldn’t help the small smile of relief on his face, this was the Stiles he remembered. He was shocked into silence when Stiles suddenly surged forwards, pulling Derek into a bruising, vicious kiss. Derek was surprised for only a moment and then he was kissing back, his hands on Stiles’ hips, pulling him closer, loving the feel of Stiles’ lips against his, even if the kiss was more brutal that he was used to from Stiles. Stiles wrapped his hands around Derek’s neck, pulling on his hair, deepening the kiss. 

Derek wasn’t sure how long they were stood there in the pouring rain, he lost all track of time as they kissed, he hadn’t forgotten how good kissing Stiles had felt but still, to be doing it right now, it felt like it was the first time all over again, although definitely less sweet and gentle.

Stiles was the one who pulled away from the kiss a moment later, his eyes searching Derek’s face, seemingly surprised that Derek had kissed him back. 

“Are you two coming in or are you going to stand out in the rain all day?” Erica called good naturedly and Derek blushed slightly, although Stiles didn’t seem overly phased by it. Derek couldn’t help but feel a bit odd, he’d expected Stiles to be grinning widely, but instead he looked a little upset and it made Derek’s stomach flip nervously. He’d thought that Stiles wanted the kiss, hell, he’d initiated it, so why did Derek feel like it was the last thing Stiles had wanted to do? 

They headed back into the house, Derek wanting nothing more than to wrap himself around Stiles but not feeling like he could do it, that his actions wouldn’t be appreciated. John was already cooking breakfast, the smell of bacon cooking making his stomach rumble hungrily. Stiles sat next to him at the table, but his eyes were on the food rather than on Derek, he could practically feel the rest of the pack staring at them, they could probably smell the confusion rolling off Derek in waves, they could definitely see the way Stiles was practically ignoring him now. 

It should have been happy; it should have made Derek feel like he was flying. It didn’t. Instead he felt like a sudden weight had settled in his stomach. 

The morning passed quickly, the storm still raging outside, Derek wasn’t sure what to do for the best, if he should get the pack to help him move the tree and then John and Stiles could leave, or if he should make sure they stayed until the storm was over. John had received several calls of power lines coming down on their side of town, thankfully schools were already closed as it was the weekend, most businesses had decided it would be sensible to close, it seemed like the storm was only getting worse, that made Derek’s decision easy, neither John or Derek had a shift until Monday and the rest of the pack didn’t have to be anywhere until then either. They would all stay together until it was over.

Erica and Isaac were in the front room watching television when Derek heard Erica suddenly growl. He rushed through into the front room, looking to Erica who only pointed to the screen.

“They were on our land.” She snarled, Derek instead couldn’t help but look at the picture on the screen, the picture of Stiles and him kissing, Derek in only his boxers, a caption above them stating that Sterek was back together. Derek couldn’t help but feel even worse, even more like the kiss with Stiles was a mistake. 

“This is private property.” John grumbled, “I’ll try and find out who took that and I’ll arrest them for trespassing.” 

“It’s not the end of the world.” Stiles said from the doorway and Derek glanced at him, he looked calm, relaxed, a little smug even. Derek was left feeling even more confused. “I mean; everyone was going to find out eventually right?” Stiles said.

“What? That we’re back together?” Derek asked, “Are we? Because I don’t know that we are.” He replied. He didn’t miss the way the whole pack seemed to scuttle from the room as Stiles frowned at him.

“You don’t want to get back together?” Stiles replied.

“Of course I do.” Derek snapped, “But I’m not sure you do.” He shouted, “You aren’t who I remember, you aren’t who I thought you were.”

“Derek,” Stiles said sadly, “I’m your mate, your true mate, we’re supposed to be together. That’s how this works, isn’t it? Soulmates?” 

“So why does is feel like you aren’t interested in this at all?” Derek replied, his voice still on the verge of a shout, not quite ready to calm down completely when he felt so confused. Usually Stiles would say something sarcastic and grin at him, pull him into a kiss, talk to him until Derek could relax, could make sense of everything, instead Stiles stood in the doorway, looking incredibly tense, angry almost, and didn’t say a word. “It’s like I don’t even know who you are anymore.” Derek confessed sadly. 

Stiles didn’t get the chance to reply because the doorbell chose that moment to ring. Derek was surprised by that, they weren’t expecting anyone, and how did anybody get here with the tree down across the road? He strode quickly to the door, opening it wide and seeing two people stood there, an older male in his mid-thirties with blonde hair, blue eyes and a stocky build, he was stood next to a red-haired woman in her late twenties, she was short and had the kind of curves that Jason loved. 

“Derek Hale?” The man asked and Derek nodded suspiciously, “I’m Jack, this is Ella, we’re from SS Branch.” Jack said sticking out his hand in greeting. Derek shook it firmly before inviting them in, this was the last thing he needed right now. He showed them through to the kitchen, offering them a drink, glad when the whole pack gathered in the kitchen, ready to ask any questions that he might forget.

“Stiles?” Ella said in surprise when he appeared and Stiles glanced at her in confusion.

“Erm, yeah?” He replied.

“What are you doing here?” Jack asked and Stiles shrugged.

“Erm, hanging out with my dad and the pack.” Stiles supplied.

“I’m sorry,” Lydia said interrupting, “Do you guys know each other?”

“Yes.” Jack and Ella said at the same time that Stiles answered, “No.” Jack and Ella both looked at him and then each other in confusion.

“Sorry,” Stiles said slowly, “I’ve been having a few issues with my memory.” He informed them, “Although I didn’t think that meant there were people I didn’t know.” He said, gritting his teeth. “How do we know each other?”

“How did you lose your memory?” Jack asked. “Was it the spell?”

“I told you about that?” Stiles asked shocked. “You must have been important to me.” 

“We were the ones that helped you put it together.” Ella answered. 

“You work for SS Branch? Which is what?” Stiles asked. Ella and Jack looked at each other horrified.

“You guys know Stiles, but he didn’t tell you that this was his home?” Allison asked, almost cutting across Stiles’ words.

“Stiles,” Jack began, narrowing his eyes slightly at Stiles, before turning to address the pack, “He wasn’t very open about those kind of things. He kind of shut himself off from people, it took us a while but we figured out that he’d had a family, one who’d let him down, abandoned him, pushed him away. He made sure none of us could do that to him too. That we couldn’t get to know him so that we couldn’t leave him too.” The whole pack was glancing at Stiles who shrugged casually.

“I did that with everyone. I think.” He added. 

“Stiles,” Derek began, his voice breaking slightly at the pain Stiles must have suffered through, alone. At least he’d had the pack to help him. Maybe that was why Stiles was still acting so distant with him? So he couldn’t get hurt again. “We’re not going anywhere. We’re here for you.” 

“There was a shapeshifter.” Jason supplied.

“It made Stiles think that he was talking to us, and that we were talking to him, but really, none of us had talked to him for months.” Isaac added.

“Look, I’m sorry I don’t remember you.” Stiles sighed, gritting his teeth, looking incredibly frustrated, “But can you tell me why you’re here? Maybe that will jog my memory or something?”

“Of course.” Ella said, taking a seat at the table. Derek heard a phone vibrating in the living room and motioned for Lydia to go get it. She nodded quickly before exiting the room, answering the phone, and heading into the soundproofed office, Derek figured that meant the call was important.

“We’re part of SS Branch.” Jack supplied, “That stands for Supernatural Safety Branch. We came up with the name, although, not that you know this, we actually named it after you, after all, you came up with the idea. When we suggested the name, you were all for it, you had no idea that it would always be Stiles Stilinski Branch, to us, at least, and a few others.”

“You mean Stiles found a way to create portals?” Erica said, staring at Stiles in shock who looked just as surprised as the rest of the pack. 

“Yes.” Ella said, “He created the spell, it took him a little while to get it right, to make sure that the portals were only for people in need and not just anyone could access them, but he figured out how to do it and straight away he started putting it into practice. He approached several places to set up as safe houses, met up with us, taught us how to do it to, along with a number of other spells, and then travelled around the country creating new portals to help people escape trouble. He made sure we could do it, he explained about the poison, that he likely wouldn’t be around for long. He wanted to know that the work could continue without him.” 

“Did the spell say anything about removing his magic?” John asked.

“What?” Jack said in confusion, glancing across at Stiles with suspicion, “No, Stiles still has…”

“Guys!” Lydia called rushing back into the room, looking terrified. “There’s a second shifter!” She declared.

“What!?” The whole pack turned to her in confusion as she waved a phone in her hand. Derek recognised it as Stiles’.

“Ed called.” Lydia said, Derek fought back a growl, Stiles just looked at her in confusion. “He wanted to know if Stiles was still alive, he said it was a pity he was, because he might have been able to get written back into the second movie if Stiles had died.”

“Get to the point Lydia.” Derek growled.

“I asked him if he ever kissed Stiles. He said no.”

“We know that.” Stiles said. “I already told Derek that never happened.”

“Yes. I know.” Lydia said, feigning patience but looking like she was about to explode, “But Rick confessed that he had posed as you in the picture, right before Derek killed him.” Stiles went pale, looking like he was on the verge of fainting, “Which means that if Rick was posing as you then Ed must have kissed you, except he says he didn’t, he hates you, like truly hates you, which means there must have been another shifter posing as Ed.” Derek didn’t miss the glances between Ella and Jack, they knew something, he was sure of that.

“You’re sure?” Derek said.

“One hundred percent.” Lydia replied firmly.

“What do we do?” Stiles said looking terrified, “I mean, how do we know who it is?” 

Alison was about to pull up the beastiary on her phone when suddenly they were all flung backwards across the room, Jack slamming Stiles into a wall and Ella using some kind of barrier spell to keep the pack away. 

“Jesus!” Stiles cursed, struggling against the arm that Jack had pinned across his throat, “What the hell are you doing!?” 

“Let go of him right now.” Derek growled, his claws lengthening instantly, ready to tear Ella and Jack apart.

“You’re not him.” Jack snarled and Stiles looked at Derek, his eyes wide with fear.

“Derek, help me, please.” Stiles begged. 

“Shut up!” Jack roared.

“Let go of him!” John shouted.

“This isn’t Stiles!” Jack shouted, silencing them, Ella seemed to be putting all her concentration into keeping the barrier up, Derek knew she wouldn’t be able to hold it for much longer, he would be ready when it dropped.

“What are you on about!?” Stiles shouted, “Of course I’m Stiles. It’s me.” 

“No it’s not.” Jack informed them. “Tell me where he is.”

“I’m Stiles. I promise you. I’m Stiles. Dad. Derek. Please. You have to believe me. It’s me.”

“You aren’t him.” Jack growled. “Quit pretending. It’s over. Now, you can tell me where he is or I’ll kill you right now.” Jack pulled something from his pocket, it looked like a silver knife of some kind and Stiles whimpered in fear.

Derek was trembling with energy, ready to rip and tear his way through anyone who dared threaten Stiles. But he couldn’t help but wonder, what if Jack and Ella were both right? What if this wasn’t Stiles? Stiles must have realised what Derek was thinking, if the look of betrayal on his face was anything to go by. 

“The Stiles I know would have come up with a sarcastic comment by now.” Jack said and Derek couldn’t help but think along the same lines.

“It’s kind of hard with brain damage.” Stiles retorted, “Why don’t you try it some time?”

“The Stiles I know,” Jack continued, “wouldn’t be scared of a shapeshifter, he’d take it down in an instant, and he sure as hell wouldn’t ask anyone for help. He could handle himself.” 

“I am Stiles!” Stiles yelled.

“The Stiles I know would have already disarmed me, cast a spell, knocked me on my ass. You aren’t him. Stop pretending. The games over. They’re figuring it out now, that you aren’t him. They’re not going to rescue you. Even if Ella dropped the shield they wouldn’t come and help because they know it too.”

“That’s not true.” Stiles whispered quietly. “Dad, please, please, help me.” Jack moved the knife closer to Stiles’ face, pressing the tip of it against his skin and Stiles started screaming as his flesh burned.

“Stop it!” Jason shouted, “Stop it! You’re hurting him!”

“It’s not him.” Ella said quietly, sweat beginning to form on her brow. Derek knew she couldn’t maintain the barrier much longer, he was ready, as soon as it fell he would kill them both for hurting Stiles.

The whole pack stilled when Stiles’ face seemed to melt slightly and Doctor Fox was stood in his place.

“Where is he!?” Jack growled, Ella taking one look at the packs’ stunned faces before dropping the barrier and sighing in relief. Derek was pretty sure he was frozen in place, this wasn’t Stiles. Where the hell was Stiles?

“He’s dead.” Doctor fox grinned, realising her game was done, her cheek slowly healing the vivid burn mark, “I killed him and I made sure it hurt. He knew exactly what was happening to him when I gutted him.” 

Derek felt like his heart had just been torn from his chest, he couldn’t breathe, if what she was saying was true then Stiles was dead, Stiles was dead. God, he couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t. 

“You’re lying.” Ella said calmly. “He’s alive.” Derek glanced up at her with something like hope in his eyes, he wanted to believe her, he had to believe her, Stiles had to be alive. “This,” She indicated the storm outside, “This is Stiles’ magic at work, and he is beyond pissed, so you tell us where he is and we’ll make your death quick for you.”

“How do you know?” Lydia asked, her voice shaking slightly.

“It feels like his magic.” Ella said simply, “What about you, banshee? Have you screamed for him?”

“No.” Lydia said firmly.

“So he’s alive. And I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Ella said indicating the storm, “which means you tell us where he is and we kill you quick, or you don’t and we find him anyway and let Stiles deal with you. Believe me, talking is the best option for you here.”

“These animals murdered Rick.” Doctor Fox snarled, “He was everything to me. I’d rather die a thousand deaths than make things easier for them in any way.”

“Rick was your boyfriend?” Jackson said in confusion.

“Yes.” Doctor Fox shouted, “He was the one that came up with the plan to get as much money out of Stiles as possible. I was the one who released the police call to the news, he set up the shoot to find out about Stiles being poisoned, him dying. I called the reporters as soon as I knew he collapsed to make sure they got there quickly. I was the one who sent the reporter a picture of us kissing earlier Derek.” Derek snarled, “You know, I expected you to pull away quicker than that, you surprised me.” She taunted. 

“Where is he?” Derek said, his claws flashing dangerously as he approached her. 

“You think that’s bad, you should hear what I said to Stiles.” She laughed, morphing into Derek, “Stiles, don’t you get it, I don’t want you.” She said in his voice, “Why would I want you? You’re pathetic, you’re nothing that I could ever want.” She cackled, Derek was trying hard not to kill her right now. “Stop calling Stiles, you can’t fix this, there’s nothing to fix. I don’t want you. You wouldn’t even have sex with me. You think I’m going to want to be with someone who wouldn’t even put out?” She grinned at him wickedly, “Oh, you should have heard him Derek, so desperate for you to love him, he wanted to come home, wanted to be with you so badly, you could have demanded sex and he would have done it if it meant he got to be with you.”

“I wouldn’t have said that, not ever.” Derek growled, “Stiles knows that.”

“Does he?” She taunted, “I’m not so sure about that one.” 

“Tell us where he is.” Derek snarled, his claws digging lightly into her throat. 

“Why should I? You’re going to kill me either way right? You should know that I’ve been making Stiles suffer too.” She gloated, watching as their mouths dropped open in shock, “You know I tried so hard to hack into Stiles’ memories, the ones he was keeping from me, I decided that maybe if he was physically weak it would break down the barriers in his mind, I had a lot of fun beating him, especially wearing your face Derek.” She grinned, Derek thought he might be sick, “Admittedly he’s a lot smarter than you guys, he figured it out within a few minutes, knew I wasn’t really you, but still, it made it more fun for me to pretend.”

“How did he keep you out of his memories?” Jack said, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she’d just declared she’d tortured Stiles wearing Derek’s face. Doctor Fox grinned.

“He likes to sing songs about wolves.” She laughed, tapping the side of her head with one long finger, “Right now it’s ‘hungry like the wolf’, I guess he probably is hungry, I wonder how long it’s been since he’s had a decent meal?” She grinned and Derek could barely control the rage inside him. She would die for this.

“He can’t be far.” Erica said. “If she’s been going to see him then he can’t be far.” 

“There’s a lot of woods to search. You really want to take that risk?” Doctor Fox smiled. “Tell you what, you guys create a portal for me, get me out of here, alive, and I’ll tell you where he is.” She said smiling at Ella and Jack. 

Ella grabbed Jack by the elbow, moving him towards the far end of the room and whispering, obviously Stiles had never taught them just how good a wolf’s hearing was.

“We should do it Jack. The sooner we get to Stiles the better.”

“If we let her get away what’s to stop her coming back and doing it all over again?” Jack hissed. “We can’t. Stiles would tear us a new one if we let her escape.”

“We have to find him Jack.” Ella practically begged, “He’s saved our asses so many times, it’s time we paid him back for that. Please, just, help me get him back.” 

“There’s another way to do it.” Jack said and Ella frowned in confusion, “Before the poison became too much Stiles taught me a spell, one that could help locate other casters.” 

“Well, do it then.” Ella said quickly.

“I’ve never done it before. Stiles was the only one who could cast it.” 

“If you aren’t willing to let her go then you have to try at least.” Ella said fiercely.

“Fine.” Jack replied nervously, turning to look at the wolves, “There might be a way…”

“We heard.” Scott interrupted, “What do you need us to do?” Jack glanced around the room, then looked across at Doctor Fox still pinned against the wall by Derek’s claw. 

“I need the table cleared, I need a map of the area, also a box of salt and access to whatever herbs you have here.”

The pack sprang into action, Jackson and Jason clearing the table, Allison running out to her car and grabbing a map of the area, Lydia showed Jack the herbs they had and John pulled out a container of salt. Within two minutes Jack was ready to go. The map was laid flat on the table, he’d poured a circle of salt over the map in the area they were sure Stiles was, he’d combined a few of the herbs Lydia had provided him with and created the powder he needed. 

“Find eos.” He muttered as he blew a small amount of the powder over the map, “Find eos.” He said, louder this time, putting more belief behind the words. The powder swirled inside the salt circle, the pack watching in fascination as it finally all settled on a specific spot within the circle, piling up slightly. Jack looked at the map in awe, before finally touching the spot with a trembling finger. “He’s there.” He said. Doctor Fox had paled considerably, no longer looking smug and victorious, her features blank, as if suddenly realising she had no way out.

Scott stared at the map, studying it for a moment.

“He’s out by the lake, we can be there in a ten minutes.” Scott said, flinching slightly when lightning split the sky a moment later.

“Let’s go then.” John said rushing towards the door. Derek looked at the woman who had impersonated Stiles for god only knows how long, this was the person that had kissed him, not Stiles, this was the person who had beaten and tortured Stiles while wearing Derek’s face. He knew his eyes were glowing red, and yet he couldn’t kill her, not yet, not if Stiles wasn’t there, if he was somewhere else and the spell hadn’t worked.

“Don’t tell me you’re getting cold feet?” Doctor Fox taunted, obviously picking up on his reluctance to kill her just yet, “Have I told you that for the first few minutes, before he figured it out, that he begged you to stop? When he thought that I was you, he pleaded with you, that you didn’t have to do it.” She grinned as Derek fought for control, knowing he was on the verge of gutting her right then, “Of course, it made it that much sweeter when my knife started slicing through his skin.” She laughed. It was the last thing she did. Derek hadn’t meant to, but the idea that this monster had cut Stiles, had hurt him, his claws had come fully out automatically at the very thought of Stiles being hurt, they’d torn into her throat in an instant, killing her a moment later. 

“Come on! We’re going!” Jason said, seemingly not caring that Doctor Fox was dead, instead he was dragging Derek towards the door, into the storm outside. It took longer to get to the lake than they thought, the storm was getting worse, branches and trees falling nearly continuously as they got closer, the wind knocking them backwards all the time, thunder and lightning echoing around them. 

Finally, they got to the lake and Derek peered through the rain, straining to see Stiles, to hear his heart beat. There was nothing.

“Stiles!” He shouted, his voice easily getting lost in the wind. Derek could hear the rest of the pack calling out, screaming for Stiles. There was still no answer. “Stiles!” He screamed again.

“There’s some caves not far from here!” Erica shouted over the roar of the wind. 

Derek knew which caves she meant, already heading in that direction, it was their last hope, Stiles had to be there. 

They’d just got through the entrance of the cave, finally sheltered from the wind and the rain when Derek heard it, probably the best sound he’d ever heard. Stiles’ heartbeat.

“Stiles!” He called out in relief, racing through the tunnels in the direction of his heartbeat. The tunnels were getting damper and colder, the walls covered with a thick green slime, he’d never been down this far before, but if Derek had to guess, he’d say they were almost under the lake. He rounded another corner and came to a standstill, frozen in shock. 

Stiles was tied up, a gag in his mouth, a blindfold covering his eyes, he was stood on his tiptoes, barely able to reach the ground, his bare feet slipping on the wet ground and yanking on his wrists whenever he lost his grip on the floor as he pulled against the bindings. Dried blood was staining his arms red, Derek assumed some of it was from the runes Stiles had carved into his wrists, the ones that were now being pulled on continuously as he struggled against the ropes. There was more blood covering his chest and side, staining the thin cotton trousers he was wearing, Derek could barely imagine how cold Stiles must be.

“Stiles!” Scott called out in horror, rushing forward and grabbing hold of him, lifting him slightly so that the pressure was finally off his wrists. “Someone cut him down!” Scott shouted as Derek stood frozen to the spot, how could he not have realized that it was a fake Stiles earlier? While the real Stiles, his Stiles, was being tortured. Scott was already pulling off the gag and blindfold, Stiles blinking a few times as he took in his surroundings before the rope holding his arms was finally cut by Boyd and he almost collapsed with relief. 

“Are you okay? Stiles are you alright?” John was asking, Stiles didn’t reply, instead rubbing at his raw wrists, trying to get feeling back into his fingers. Stiles was trembling with relief, he thought he’d die down here, but the pack had found him, probably some kind of lucky coincidence. Derek really didn’t look happy to see him, instead he just looked angry. Stiles figured that Derek was probably annoyed that Stiles was back in their territory after he’d told him to stay out of it.

He’d woken up in the hospital, Doctor Fox had told him to sleep, and then he’d woken up again here, his whole body throbbing in agony as something that looked like Derek tortured him. The real Derek was stood in the doorway and Stiles couldn’t look at him, couldn’t face having to hear in person that he still wasn’t welcome, not after all of this. He saw Ella and Jack approach him and he wasn’t even going to attempt to figure out how they’d ended up here. 

“Get me out of here.” He muttered to Jack, “Just get me out of here please.” He said, feeling on the verge of tears, he was freezing and exhausted and in pain and he couldn’t deal with anything else right now. 

“Stiles, wait, hang on.” Jason was saying, but Stiles couldn’t hear it, not now, not here, he couldn’t. He threw a hand up in their direction, quickly creating a soundproof barrier that kept the pack at bay, even if his dad was banging on it angrily, Stiles wasn’t going to think about that. He wasn’t. They didn’t want him here, hanging around to listen to them explain it wasn’t going to make things any easier. He needed to leave. Now.

“Do it now or I’ll do it myself.” Stiles said quickly, trying to sound in control and ready for action, even if really he was terrified, he was exhausted and he hurt and he needed to be anywhere other than here, because if he had to hear about how perfect Leanne was while they stood in front of him, he knew he wouldn’t be able to hold back the tears and then they’d know just how broken and messed up he was. 

Jack took in the tone of Stiles’ voice, saw how exhausted his mentor looked, and just couldn’t deny him this. Stiles had done so much for them and never asked for anything in return, now that he was, Jack couldn’t let him down, he wouldn’t. Instead he created a portal quickly, between Ella and him it only took a minute, and then they were stepping through it, Stiles refusing to look at anything or anyone other than the portal, leaving Beacon Hills and the pack behind. 

Derek was still in shock, one minute he’d been staring at Stiles, staring at the injuries that seemed to open up and the fresh blood that spilt from them as soon as Stiles moved. Then he’d heard his voice, sounding so broken, begging Jack to get him out of here. Was it because of him? Could Stiles not bear to be around Derek when it had been his fake body that had tortured him? Derek could kind of understand that. Before any of them could protest however, Stiles was throwing up a barrier, keeping the entire pack away from him, it didn’t matter how much they shouted or begged, Stiles couldn’t seem to hear them, and then, he was gone, the barrier dropping and John stumbling forwards as it disappeared. 

“Stiles!” John called in shock, running for the portal that was already closed, banging his fist on the wall, “Stiles! Wait! Come back! Please!” John pleaded, banging until his fist was bloody and tears were streaming down his face. Erica and Isaac took him gently by the arms and steered him away, Lydia directing the pack back out into the open air.

Derek stared up at the bright blue sky in shock, the devastation the storm had caused was obvious, trees still lay across the ground, their branches torn in all directions, and yet, you wouldn’t be able to tell, the sun was shining down, not a cloud in sight, birds were singing in the trees that were still standing. Derek hated it. Right now he would rather the storm continued, rather watch as it destroyed everything, because that’s how he was feeling, his chest hurt, like someone had thrust a spear through it, his hands were shaking, his mind racing. Stiles had left them. After everything, he’d left them. 

When they got back to the house Lydia suggested that he go lie down, Derek couldn’t do that, he couldn’t. He had to keep moving otherwise he’d fall apart. Instead he headed out to the road and started clearing the fallen trees from their path. He worked until it was starting to go dark, ignoring the rest of the pack as he tried not to think about Stiles, he’d survived it once he could survive it again. Stiles had left them. 

The next few days passed in a blur, if anyone asked Derek what he’d been doing he couldn’t have told you, he knew he’d been in work, working double or maybe even a triple shift, he wasn’t sure, he couldn’t remember. He didn’t know the last time he’d slept, or eaten, or even just sat down for five minutes. Every time he closed his eyes he saw Stiles, Stiles bleeding and in pain and unable to look at him. This was Derek’s fault. This was all his fault. He’d been too stupid to realise that that thing had been impersonating Stiles, he should have realised, he should have got to the real Stiles sooner. 

“I spoke to the hospital.” John said one night, almost a week after Stiles had left, “The last time anyone saw Doctor Fox was the afternoon that Stiles woke up.” 

“Nobody is even going to notice she’s missing. Why does it matter?” Erica said quietly, they’d all been quieter recently, more withdrawn, Derek noticed that. That was his fault too. He needed to fix this but he didn’t know how. 

“It matters,” John pressed, “because I’m about ninety-nine-point nine percent sure that Stiles was wearing hospital trousers. Which means she took him from the hospital. We’ve all been thinking that Stiles woke up and spoke to us and still chose to leave. But, hear me out here, what if he never spoke to us?” John said hopefully, “What if Stiles woke up and Doctor Fox took him then? What if he doesn’t know about Rick? About everything? What if he didn’t leave us? What if he ran away because we asked him to go?”

“We didn’t ask him to go.” Jackson said angrily.

“Rick did.” John reasoned, “Rick told him we didn’t want him here. What if Stiles was still trying to do what we wanted and stay away?” 

“It’s possible.” Lydia said, “I mean, he’s not the best at listening sometimes.” 

“You really think that’s how it happened?” Derek asked, his voice cracking slightly, he cleared his throat, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d spoken, the past week felt like it had been some kind of fuzzy dream, but things were becoming clearer now, with the very slim chance of Stiles not actually abandoning them, he needed to get to him, needed to find him, tell him what really happened. Stiles had to know the truth. And, if Stiles did already know everything and had still chosen to leave them, well, Derek would just have to survive that.

He ignored the way the rest of the pack were looking at him, with something like relief and joy in their eyes, maybe they had been worried about him but he hadn’t noticed. 

“I do.” John said firmly. “I know my son. I know he would have stayed here with us if he thought that he was welcome. I know it. With every fibre of my being.”

“Okay. So we need to tell him.” Isaac said firmly, “We need to tell him what really happened.”

Stiles’ phone was still sat on the side from where Lydia had left it when she took the call from Ed, there was no way to get hold of him. Jason had the idea of finding Jack or Ella’s number on Stiles’ phone and seeing if they could get hold of him. 

Derek’s heart skipped slightly when they eventually figured out that Stiles’ password was Derek’s birthday. It gave him hope. Even if maybe it was just because Stiles had been too lazy or busy to change it. He knew the wolves in the room had heard his heart rate jump but thankfully none of them mentioned it. 

“Jack!” Lydia said with relief when he answered, “It’s Lydia Martin. We met last week.”

“I know who you are Lydia. Why are you calling?” Jack said, sounding worried.

“We’re trying to get hold of Stiles, look, there’s things he doesn’t know, we need to speak to him, to explain.”

“He’s not here.” Jack said, “I hoped it was him calling.”

“Where is he?” Scott asked quickly, almost snatching the phone from Lydia’s hand.

“He went after a camazotz, near Puerto Barrios. A couple of hours after we left you guys.”

“And you haven’t heard from him since?” John asked.

“No. He said he could handle it. I didn’t want to argue with him. He was a bit of a mess, you know, after everything, I told him we’d look after him, fix him up, he told us to leave it, leave him. He got himself cleaned up, told us he’d had a few messages about a camazotz and was going to deal with it.”

“Why didn’t you stop him!?” Allison said outraged, “Or go with him!?”

“I’m sorry, have you forgotten about the storm that Stiles created with his hands tied up?” Jack replied sarcastically, “He’s got more power in his little finger than I could ever hope to have, excuse me if I wasn’t about to argue with the guy, besides, I figured he wanted the time by himself, he had just been tortured for god knows how long, he barely gave us a chance to explain anything other than the fact that the shapeshifter was dead.” 

“Have you got any way to get hold of him?” John said, trying his best to sound as calm as possible when really his heart was racing. “And what is a camazotz?”

“It’s a sort of vampire bat, but a lot bigger.” Jack informed them, “I do have a number for him, but it’s only for emergencies. Like life or death emergencies.”

“This is important though.” Isaac shouted, “He needs to know the truth about everything.”

“This camazotz thing is pretty brutal, it goes for the kill when its victims are distracted. If Stiles if hunting it, if he’s within any distance of it, he shouldn’t be distracted unless it’s absolutely necessary, not if you want him to live.” Jack advised.

“This is necessary.” Derek muttered, surprised when all the pack turned to look at him in surprise, “It’s life or death that we speak to Stiles right now.” Derek said slightly louder. 

“Alright,” Jack said sighing, “But if he gets pissed at you I had nothing to do with this.” 

“Fine. Just give us the number.” Boyd said angrily. Jack gave them the number and then hung up, asking them to let him know once they had spoken to Stiles, once they knew he was okay.

Lydia was already dialling the number the instant Jack hung up and Derek was nervous, he barely had a moment to prepare himself before the call connected.

“Hello?” Stiles answered.

“Stiles.” John said in relief. 

“Dad?” Stiles asked in confusion. “Why are you calling me?”

“Stiles, look, we really need to talk. Can you talk right now?” 

“It shouldn’t be an issue.” Stiles said slowly, quietly, almost warily.

“I know you’re busy, I know this number is only for emergencies. But I need to ask you something really important.”

“Okay, go for it.” Stiles replied. 

“When you woke up in the hospital, did you speak to any of us?” There was silence for a moment. 

“That’s the important question?” Stiles laughed quietly.

“Stiles, please.” John pleaded.

“When would I have… Jesus…Fuck. Hang on.” Stiles shouted as it sounded like the phone dropped and a sudden loud angry bellow. 

“Stiles?” John said in panic, “Stiles? Can you hear me? Are you okay?” 

Derek could hear Stiles cursing, then the sound of something screeching, Derek assumed it was the camazotz, it sounded hideous, it made his ears hurt and he could see the rest of the pack wincing. There was more cursing from Stiles and several heavy thumps, then sort of a loud popping that Derek couldn’t figure out what on earth it was or could be.

“Come on then, you fucker!” Stiles shouted, Derek was going to kill him, how could he be so reckless?

There was more screeching, more shouts from Stiles, Derek was going to go insane. He should be there; he should be protecting Stiles. Then finally there was silence. 

A moment later they heard the phone being picked up and Stiles’ heavy breathing come down the phone.

“Damn it.” Stiles cursed.

“Kid, you okay?” John asked and Stiles went silent. 

“What’s wrong?” Stiles said sounding suddenly very serious. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” John said half laughing, this was the Stiles he knew, not the imposter that had taken over their lives for so long, “Stiles, look, there was a shapeshifter…”

“I know. Jack told me.” Stiles interrupted.

“There were two.” John said over Stiles. 

“Where are you?” Stiles said suddenly, sounding panicked.

“I’m at the house.” John said slowly in confusion, looking at the pack as if they would know why Stiles was asking him that.

“Yours or the packs?” Stiles asked urgently.

“Packs.” John replied.

“Are they with you? Are they safe?” Stiles said, it sounded like the phone was pressed to his ear as he dragged something heavy. Derek imagined it was probably the camazotz.

“They’re safe Stiles. It’s okay.” John said calmly. 

“Are you alone?” Stiles asked, sounding almost angry.

“I can be.” John replied, picking up the phone and heading towards the front garden. He knew the wolves would still be able to hear every word, but it gave the illusion of privacy, he glanced back at the house, every member of the pack was staring at him out of the windows and John tried not to laugh, so much for the illusion of privacy. “Okay, I’m alone.”

“Where?”

“What?” 

“Where abouts are you dad? In the house, outside? Where?” Stiles said impatiently.

“I’m in the front garden.” John said, trying to keep the puzzlement out of his voice.

“Okay. Give me two minutes.” Stiles said before the call cut off. 

“Stiles?” John said into the phone, “Stiles? Are you there?” He glanced back at the house, unable to believe that Stiles had hung up on him. Still, he waited, Stiles said to give him two minutes, he’d wait, and then he’d call him back. 

John counted it on his watch, to make sure he didn’t ring back too quickly and interrupt Stiles doing whatever it was he was doing. He only had to wait another fifteen seconds when suddenly there was a loud popping noise from the treeline, it sounded sort of like the noise he’d heard on the phone with Stiles and he was a little worried about what the hell that meant. John drew his gun, unsure what on earth that noise had been, and headed down towards the edge of the treeline, tense and ready for an attack, waving for the wolves to wait until he’d figured out what it was. He knew if he spoke loud enough they’d be able to hear him anyway. He was probably being paranoid but he’d seen a lot since learning about the supernatural, sometimes being paranoid was the only thing that kept you alive. 

What he wasn’t expecting to find was Stiles, leaning up against a tree, looking exhausted, dark bags under his eyes, stubble shadowing his jaw, his clothes torn and dirty and he was covered in blood, but still there was a small, tired smile on his lips.

“Hey dad.” Stiles whispered in greeting. 

“Stiles?” John muttered in shock, staring at his son, unable to believe what he was seeing, “But, you, you were in Central America?”

“Now I’m here.” Stiles replied, rubbing a hand up his cheek, seemingly trying to wake himself up, the other pressed against his hip. “You said there was a second shifter?”

“But, I mean, how? What? How did you get here?”

“Now really isn’t the time dad, I can’t stay here long. Which direction did it head?”

“What?” John said, still trying to process the fact that his son was stood in front of him. 

“The shifter? Which way did it leave? Do you know?”

“What? I just, I can’t, just, Stiles!” John mumbled, his relief finally catching up with him and surging forward to hug Stiles, “I can’t believe you’re here kid, I was so scared I was going to lose you.” He felt Stiles hug him back tentatively and John almost broke down into sobs. They pulled apart a moment later and John just held onto Stiles’ shoulders, studying him, wondering when Stiles had ever worn such a lost expression before.

“Stiles,” John began, not sure where to start, “Look, what I need to ask you, the thing that’s really important, that’s going to change how all this goes, did you speak to any of us at the hospital?” He said, slightly louder than he had done previously, finally getting over his shock and finding his voice again.

“Why the hell would I have done?” Stiles said heavily, leaning back against the tree, “I don’t see what this has to do with anything? I must have asked you a hundred times to come see me or if I could come see you, you didn’t want to then, and I get why, I do. So why would this time have been any different?”

“Stiles!” John said exasperated, Stiles glared at him.

“Keep it down.” Stiles whispered, “Look, I came because I thought you were in trouble. I know I’m not welcome here and I’m really not wanting to deal with all of that right now. So, tell me what you know about the shifter and I’ll track it down.” John paused, unable to believe that it was true, that Stiles had had no idea about Rick.

“He doesn’t know!” John shouted and Stiles winced slightly at the volume of it. “He doesn’t know any of it, get your asses out here!” 

“What are you doing!?” Stiles said, looking panicked as they heard the front door banging open and then suddenly all the pack were flooding towards them, coming to an abrupt stop when they saw Stiles.

“How are you here?” Lydia said in shock, “You were in Puerto Barrios. How did you get here?”

“I was just leaving.” Stiles replied quietly, barely meeting any of their eyes. “Dad said there was a second shifter, I came to make sure you guys were okay. I’m leaving okay?”

“No. Not okay. So not okay.” Scott said quickly and Stiles glanced up to him in surprise. “You’re bleeding for one.” He gestured to where Stiles was still pressing a hand against his hip and John wondered how he’d missed that one. 

“It’s nothing.” Stiles replied, “I can handle it.” 

“Come on inside, we’ll patch you up and explain everything then.” Allison suggested and Stiles looked at her in confusion. 

“What?” He said, sounding genuinely shocked.

“Maybe he’s delirious.” Jackson offered, “Maybe that kamikaze thing had a way of making you crazy?”

“It was a camazotz, and I’m not crazy.” Stiles said angrily, “I’m confused. Why are you being nice to me? All I had to do was get kidnapped by a shifter and suddenly you guys don’t hate me anymore?”

“Stiles, we never hated you.” Jason said sadly, unable to believe that Stiles could ever think that.

“Well, you did a damn good job of pretending you did, you could be an actor with skills like that.” Stiles said sarcastically and Derek felt like laughing, this was the Stiles he knew. Stiles moved away from the tree slightly, wincing and Derek could literally feel his wolf tearing at his control, Stiles was hurt, he needed to go to him. 

“It’s a really long story, we’ll tell you everything, come inside, get fixed up and then listen to what we have to say, that’s not much to ask is it?” Isaac pleaded and Stiles looked at them slowly, never meeting Derek’s eye before finally nodding. 

“Alright.” He replied quietly, gesturing for them to lead the way. Derek walked back towards the house, trying to ignore the way that Stiles winced with every step he took, he smelt of pain and, worse, he smelled of fear. Stiles should never be afraid of them.

Derek could see Stiles glancing around the house, as if trying to see what had changed since he had last been here, Derek wasn’t sure much had, other than he’d taken down the photos of just the two of them together, he couldn’t bear to look at them after what he’d thought Stiles had done. Stiles moved into the kitchen, following Allison silently.

“Can you take your shirt off? I can see what I’m dealing with then.” 

“I can manage myself.” Stiles said quietly, still the usual stubbornness in his tone, Derek hated that quiet voice, he wasn’t used to Stiles being anything other than loud and vibrant in this house, “Just let me grab some stuff, I’ll use the bathroom and then I’ll be done. Then we can talk about whatever it is that’s so important.” Allison glanced to Derek who nodded, he knew how stubborn Stiles could be, he wasn’t going to argue with him on it.

Stiles decided just to take the first aid kit, it was easy than grabbing the bits he needed, and headed towards the nearest bathroom, well, no, that was a lie, he headed to the guest bathroom, the nearest bathroom had been the one he shared with Derek, the one Derek now shared with Leanne, he tried not to grimace at that thought. He wanted to get out of here before he had to meet her. He couldn’t handle that, not with how emotional he was feeling right now, he was terrified of meeting her, of seeing just who had replaced him, of meeting the person who could make Derek happy.

He decided on a shower, it would probably be the best way to get rid of most of the blood and dirt, and he was sure he smelt which the wolves wouldn’t appreciate, but since he’d spent most of the past week hiking around a sweltering jungle he was going to let himself off the hook on that one. The water felt amazing, fresh and clean, he felt a hundred times better by the time he got out, even if the bite wound at his hip was still bleeding. 

He wrapped a towel around himself, glancing at the dirty clothes on the floor, feeling a little revolted at the idea of having to put them back on when there was a quiet knock on the door. 

“Stiles?” Erica called out, Stiles hesitated for a moment before going across and opening the door a crack, “I brought you some clean clothes?” She said, holding them out in front of her.

“Thanks.” Stiles muttered gratefully, taking them from her hand as best as he could manage and then shutting the door again quickly, trying not to think about how all of the wolves seemed to be acting as if he was about to explode at them. 

He pulled on a pair of dark joggers that were a bit too long in the legs, he thought they looked a bit like Derek’s but he tried not to think about that either. He managed to stitch the bite mark up easily enough, only letting out a few little gasps of pain that he hoped was quiet enough that the wolves hadn’t heard him. He bandaged it easily, ignoring the way his body was throbbing with pain, he was too used to it now he guessed, fighting the poison for six months had obviously increased his pain threshold. His side was still healing from where the shifter had cut into him, his wrists and chest still healing from the runes, he was covered in bruises, but that wasn’t the main reason he’d been so insistent on dealing with it himself, if they saw the other thing he’d done to his body in this past week then he’d probably be yelled at, a lot, but it made things easier for him so he didn’t really care what they thought, he didn’t and he wouldn’t care.

He pulled on the long sleeved grey t-shirt Erica had provided, snuggling into its warmth slightly. If he was honest with himself, he was exhausted, and that was before the latest set of injuries, he felt like he could sleep for a week and it wouldn’t bother him in the slightest. He’d had a long few months, battling the poison, trying to teach Jack and Ella how to create portals, because someone had to carry on after him, dealing with the fact that people he’d considered family had all disowned him, that he wasn’t good enough for them, that he annoyed them. Not to mention the times in the hospital, the dizzy spells, the seizures, the nosebleeds, finishing filming on Spiderman and City of the dead, trying to save as many people as he possibly could. He wasn’t sure the last time he’d actually slept for a full night, well, one where he wasn’t unconscious in the hospital anyway.

He made his way back towards the living room, his socked feet almost silent on the floors, his worn boots by the door, he wished he was wearing them, that way he’d be able to make a quick escape. He stood in the doorway, pulling the long sleeves over his hands, covering himself as much as possible as he waited for the pack to tell him he wasn’t welcome. He was so scared he was trembling, but he couldn’t stop himself, all he could be grateful for was that Leanne hadn’t appeared yet. 

He cleared his throat nervously, although there was no need, the wolves probably all knew he was there the second he’d stepping into the doorway. 

“Stiles.” John said, looking up at him in surprise, “You look better for a shower.”

“Smell better too.” Stiles replied quickly, a small half smile on his lips, not looking at Derek, he couldn’t look at Derek, couldn’t see how much he hated Stiles being here. 

“Here,” Lydia said, thrusting a cup of coffee into his hands, he inhaled the smell gratefully, he’d need all he could get to make it back to the hotel later. “Come on, sit down, there’s a lot we have to talk about.” She said, pulling him towards a chair. 

Stiles sat down, pulling his knees towards his chest and blowing on the coffee slightly, refusing to meet any of their eyes, before taking a large sip and relishing the taste. He tried to stay as still as possible, as calm as possible, despite the fact he had a million questions racing through his mind, he didn’t want to irritate Derek, or any of the others, any further by being here. 

Scott cleared his throat in the silence a minute later, they’d all expected Stiles to start asking what would probably be a thousand questions, instead he’d sat in silence, sipping at his coffee and staring at it so intently that Scott was pretty sure Stiles would set the mug on fire in a moment. Scott didn’t like it, seeing his best friend awake and conscious and yet still too silent and still, it wasn’t right.

“Stiles,” He began, not knowing how to explain everything, but knowing someone had to start somewhere, Derek couldn’t be trusted with this, he looked like he was on the verge of having a breakdown, his claws digging into the palm of his hands, Scott could smell the blood, Stiles needed someone in control to deal with this. “Look, the thing is, and I’m not sure how to start, so just bear with us here, the past few months, since you and Derek, you know, well, the thing is, we’ve been speaking to you.”

“And?” Stiles replied quizzically.

“And,” Scott continued, “You kept telling us to leave you alone, that you needed time to sort your head out, that you needed space and you didn’t want to see us.”

“I never said that.” Stiles said outraged, his voice still calm and quiet despite the anger in his features, “I never said that, not once. Why the hell would you think that?” 

“Because,” Allison informed him, “We rang your number, you answered, we spoke to you and that’s what you said. Every time. Without fail.”

“But I didn’t...” Stiles paused, obviously thinking for a moment, “You mean there was a shifter talking to you guys and impersonating me?” 

“Yes.” Scott sighed relieved, Stiles had reached that conclusion so easily it was hard to believe, he wished he had Stiles’ brain sometimes, “He kept us apart, so when we came to see you at the hospital Rick told us that you didn’t want to see us, and with everything else you’d said previously, we believed him. By the time we figured out he was the shifter it was too late, you’d left the hospital and it took us forever to track you down.”

“Rick is the shifter?” Stiles said in shock, still not moving from the chair and staring at Scott with wide eyes. Once upon a time Stiles would have been pacing around the room like a madman by now, Derek laughing to himself at just how much energy and life flowed with Stiles around, now he sat still and quiet and Derek wondered just how badly he was hurt that he hadn’t moved yet. They’d all heard him gasping in pain in the bathroom, even if it was very quiet, Derek hated that he hadn’t been the one to help Stiles with it, he wanted to offer to drain the pain but he didn’t know if Stiles would even allow that.

“How did you figure it out?” Stiles whispered.

“We heard you on the phone in the hospital.” Erica supplied.

“What?” Stiles said confused, Derek wasn’t going to think about how adorable it was when Stiles scrunched his face up in confusion. 

“To your dad.” 

“Yeah, I asked you to come with me, but you said you couldn’t.” Stiles said quietly in admission.

“Except I was with the pack, and my phone never rang.” John replied. Stiles was evidently stunned into silence. “Stiles,” John whispered a minute later when Stiles still hadn’t spoken or moved, he reached forward, touching Stiles’ leg gently, “You understand what I’m saying? When you spoke to me, it wasn’t me.” 

“How long?” Stiles asked, his voice cracking, he swallowed loudly, looking so stunned and pale that Derek was terrified Stiles was about to pass out. “How long have I not spoken to you? To the real you?”

“We don’t know, we’re not sure, not exactly, but we think, I mean, it might even have been before then, but yeah, we think it was around the time that you and Derek…” Lydia trailed off as Stiles went an even paler shade, his jaw clenching tightly, Derek could feel the anger rolling off him in waves and he wasn’t exactly surprised when thunder rolled through the sky outside in warning.

“Where is he?” Stiles said through gritted teeth.

“He’s dead.” Boyd informed him, “The night you cast the spell.”

“Did you make it hurt?” Stiles asked angrily.

“No. It was more important that we found you.” Isaac said honestly. “It was quick, then we followed Lydia to find you.”

“He deserved to die painfully.” Stiles said, staring at the ground with hatred, “How could I have been so stupid? How could I not have known?”

“None of us did.” John offered, “He fooled all of us.” 

“I should have known.” Stiles said angrily, “I was with him all the time, I should have known.” 

“Don’t beat yourself up kid, it’s not your fault.” 

“I believed everything he said, I believed it all.” Stiles said, obviously unable to believe he could have been fooled so easily. “I’m sorry. I should have figured it out.” 

“Stiles, you’re not expected to know everything, it’s okay to miss things sometimes.” Jason said reasonably. 

“Miss things?” Stiles said incredulous, “Miss things!?” He shouted, before pausing, taking a deep breath and continuing in a much quieter and colder tone, filled with self-hatred. “I didn’t realise the guy was a god damn shapeshifter, he’s been messing with you guys for months and I was too stupid to even realize. Jesus,” He let out a shaky breath, “I’m sorry. God, I’m so sorry.”

“He was messing with you too.” Jackson supplied, “Well, both of them, Rick and Doctor Fox, they were both messing with you worse than us.”

“Doctor Fox was the other one?” 

“Yeah, didn’t you know that? Didn’t Jack tell you?” Isaac asked

“No, just that there had been a shifter and she’d been taken care of.”

“But what about in the cave? Didn’t you see then?” Scott asked and Stiles grimaced slightly.

“No. She never showed me her real face, just…” He trailed off then, unable to say the words, that she’d beaten him and tried to break him all the time wearing Derek’s face. 

“Just me.” Derek supplied and Stiles nodded silently, unable to look at him. He took a deep breath, trying to make sure that he wasn’t annoying Derek, the last thing he needed was kicking out, not now he knew all this, there was so much he still needed to know. Although he supposed he’d have to leave soon, as soon as Leanne came back, he figured that she must be out, he wouldn’t be able to stay then. Okay, so maybe the pack didn’t hate him, and maybe they did want him around, but he couldn’t stay here, watch Derek being happy with someone else, he couldn’t do that. 

“So, they’re both dead?” Stiles asked, ignoring the magic rumbling inside of him.

“Yeah.” Scott assured him.

“Okay. That’s good. You guys did good. Taking care of them.” Stiles said, rising from his seat and taking the empty cup through to the kitchen before heading back towards the main door.

“We need to talk about us as well.” Derek started, his voice cracking slightly as Stiles started to put his shoes on.

“Maybe another time?” Stiles replied calmly, hoping that they couldn’t hear how fast his heart was beating, “I mean, I best…” Stiles started to say as he straightened up from putting his shoes on, he didn’t get to finish his sentence, mainly because his dad started to talk over him.

“Where are you going?” John said quickly, seeing Stiles putting his shoes on as if to leave made him feel a little crazy, they’d only just got him back. “You’re not leaving yet, are you? We’ve still got loads to talk about.”

“Erm,” Stiles hummed, “Well, I was going to, yeah, I need to head back, take care of that camazotz body, don’t want anyone to accidently trip over it, there would probably be a few mentions of the supernatural then.” He said, trying, and failing, to make his dad smile. 

“You can’t leave yet.” Erica said, sounding almost desperate, it made Stiles pause slightly, “I mean, you look tired, exhausted, I’m sure the camazotz can wait one night right? I bet you hid it before you came here? I’m sure no-one is going to trip over it right away?”

“Maybe not right away.” Stiles admitted, “But, still, I do need to take care of it tonight.” 

“How about you do that and then come back?” Lydia suggested, “Would you be able to do that? We could have tea together maybe?” Stiles stared at the floor for a minute before taking a deep breath and sighing, if they really wanted him to come, then he’d suffer through Derek and Leanne being together, he could handle it for one night, he could, for them. 

“Sure. I’ll go take care of it.” Stiles said. “What time do you want me?”

“Just come back when you’ve finished? Then we can talk about everything.” Isaac said.

“Do you want a hand?” Scott offered, “I mean, I’m guessing you came through a portal, and I’m guessing they can transport more than one person?”

“Erm,” Stiles said nervously, “No, I’ll be fine. I’ll be back in a bit.” He said, already striding out of the house and heading into the trees. His hands were shaking, why was he doing this to himself? Seeing Derek with Leanne was going to be torture. He should just not come back. But they’d asked him, they didn’t hate him, and they’d asked him. He had to go. This is what he’d wanted. To fix things. And, by being calm, by being quiet and still, they’d actually wanted him to come for tea. He could fake it, for one night he could fake it, he had to, if he wanted to keep in touch with them, to be friends again. He knew he’d never get to be pack again, but he could settle for friends, he would have to settle for friends. 

Stiles headed into the trees, Derek fighting every instinct to just go after him, he couldn’t do that, Stiles wasn’t his, not anymore. Stiles must have been through hell the past six months, and Derek couldn’t bear to drag that all up again just on the off chance that there was still a chance for them, not when Stiles had recently been tortured by someone wearing his face. There was a faint popping sound and then silence.

“Is he gone?” John asked and Derek nodded, no longer able to hear Stiles’ heartbeat. “Okay, well, what do you guys fancy for tea? It shouldn’t take Stiles long to get rid of the body, then he’ll be back and we can eat, and talk.” 

Derek didn’t want to tell John not to get his hopes up, that Stiles hadn’t sounded exactly enthusiastic about coming to tea, but, if he came, well, Derek wasn’t going to admit to anyone that he was wishing Stiles turned up, that he’d do almost anything to spend a few minutes in his company.

An hour later and tea was ready but still no Stiles, Derek tried not to feel hurt by that, although he could smell it wafting from the rest of his pack, John especially. Two hours later and there was still no Stiles. They had finished tea a little while ago, still enough left to one side for Stiles, John refusing to believe that Stiles just wasn’t coming back. Derek felt his heart shattering a little more with each minute that passed. 

It was coming up to three hours when Derek decided to go outside and wait for Stiles, he had to believe that Stiles wouldn’t let his dad down. 

By the fourth hour the whole pack was waiting outside and Derek was beginning to get angry, not for him, but for the rest of his pack, who all smelt like hurt and sadness, and it was because of Stiles. He couldn’t believe that Stiles would do this, not when they’d explained about the shifters. 

He was stewing in his own anger when there was a loud popping noise and suddenly Stiles was standing in the garden in front of them, well, no, that wasn’t accurate, Stiles was swaying on the spot, looking like he was about to fall over, blood spilling from several cuts across his chest, more from ones on his hands and arms. He was covered in what looked like some kind of green slime, his clothes soaking wet and he was as pale as the night Derek found him in the woods after casting the spell. Instantly Derek was on his feet, rushing forwards and catching Stiles as his eyes rolled backwards and his knees gave out, the rest of the pack only just starting to react.

“Stiles!” Derek said in panic, he could hear the steady beat of Stiles’ heart, but he was completely and utterly out of it. “Stiles! Can you hear me?” He said, shaking Stiles slightly, looking at the cuts across his chest, they looked like claw marks, Stiles skin was wet and clammy and Derek was so panicked he could barely think, what the hell had happened? “Stiles, wake up. You need to wake up!” Derek demanded as the rest of the pack surrounded them, John looking at Stiles with a horror-struck expression.

“We need to get him in the house.” Jackson said, “See what the damage is.” 

“Yeah.” Allison muttered before clearing her throat and shaking her shoulders slightly as if to steel herself. “Okay, Derek, we need to get him in the kitchen, Isaac, Boyd, Scott, go clear the table. Erica, I think the first aid kit is still in the bathroom from earlier, go grab it. Lydia, Jason, I’m going to need some wet cloths and dry towels. Jackson, I need you and John to make sure whatever did that doesn’t turn up here.”

“What are the chances of that?” Isaac asked sounding a little nervous.

“I don’t know.” Allison admitted. “But once you’ve all done what I’ve asked then come back out here and keep watch.”

“No.” John said, “I need to be with Stiles.” He argued and Allison glanced at him once before nodding. 

“Okay.” She looked at the pack, none of whom had moved, “Go. Now.” She said, clapping her hands and spurring them into action.

Derek carried Stiles quickly up the steps and into the kitchen, worried that he still hadn’t woken up, worried about how much blood he had lost already, how much he was still losing. He lay him down on the recently cleared table and watched as Allison cut off his shirt gently, clearly focused on her task. 

“I need to figure out which injuries are the priority. I know the chest wounds look the most serious, but there’s a lot of blood on his arms, if he’s cut any arteries he could bleed out from them.”

“Alright, do whatever you have to.” John said, “Just, let me know what you need me to do.”

Allison nodded and started her work. The claw marks looked deep and Derek saw John pale slightly at the sight of them, not to mention the other injuries, there was the wound that Stiles had patched earlier at his hip, the bandage stained with blood, more cuts across his body, his skin still cold and damp. The runes that Stiles had cut almost two weeks ago were now healing, which Derek was incredibly grateful for. 

Allison lifted Stiles’ arm out of the way so she could see the injuries on his arms easily and Derek stared at his side in astonishment.

“Is that a tattoo?” He mumbled, pointing to the large circle filled with intricate designs that decorated Stiles’ side, he couldn’t help but think it was pretty beautiful, even if it still looked a little raw. Allison glanced at it, stilling for a moment as she examined it.

“Yeah, but it’s not about to kill him so we can deal with it later.” Allison said dismissively, moving back to the injuries. Allison cleaned the wounds, working in silence as she stitched closed the claw marks, a large deep scratch on his arm and another bite mark on his other arm. Once she’d done all that she uncovered the wound at his hip, examining it carefully, before putting a few extra stitches in it and covering it up. 

“That’s it?” John said a moment later.

“I can’t see anything else.” Allison admitted. “He’s probably exhausted, tired from blood loss, it’ll probably be best to let him sleep. Although we should get him wrapped up, we don’t know how long he was in those wet clothes for before he managed to create the portal to get here.”

“I’ve got warm clothes here.” John said, holding out a pile of clothes he’d had warming on the radiator. 

Allison dried Stiles off carefully before sliding the warm clothes onto his body, getting Derek to help maneuverer him so as to avoid catching any of the injuries. She ran the back of her hand over his forehead, studying him carefully, before lifting up his eyelids and relaxing slightly. 

“Pupils are responsive. He’s got a bit of a fever, but nothing major, still, it’s something we need to keep an eye on. He’ll be alright, he just needs to sleep.” 

“Okay.” Derek said, lifting Stiles from the table and carrying him into the front room, laying him down on one of the couches, terrified of the stillness of Stiles. “So now we need to figure out what did this and if there’s still a threat, I think we can pretty sure it didn’t follow Stiles through the portal, it would’ve been here by now, don’t you think?”

“I don’t think Stiles came through a portal.” John spoke up. “Maybe we should gather the pack?”

“Alright.” Derek agreed and a moment later the whole pack was piling through the door, obviously listening in to the conversation, staring at the unconscious Stiles on the couch. 

“I think John is right.” Jason said instantly, “Stiles just appeared, there wasn’t any of that silvery light that I’d seen before, that we saw in the cave, it was just, Stiles wasn’t here and then he was.”

“It must be some kind of spell, maybe, it’s kind of like the portal, like something that moves him out of danger?” Lydia said, studying Stiles for a moment. “We can ask him when he wakes up.” 

“How long do you think?” Scott asked Allison who shrugged.

“I’m not sure.” She replied honestly, “We don’t know what happened, how long it took him to get here, how much energy that used, but Stiles is strong, he’s come through enough, he won’t quit on us now. We just need to give him some time.” 

Derek sat on the floor next to Stiles, placing a hand on his arm and instantly drawing as much pain from him as he could, Stiles remained motionless the entire time and Derek hated it. He wanted to see Stiles move, know that he was okay, instead they had to sit and wait and it was driving Derek insane. 

The rest of the pack eventually settled into the front room for the night, none of them willing to leave Stiles alone, wanting to be there the second he woke up. It wasn’t the first time that they’d all piled into the front room and created a puppy pile, Derek was always surprised by the amounts of blankets and pillows that appeared the instant the pack decided to stay together, Lydia always looked at him smugly at those times.

He fought to keep his eyes open, to make sure he was awake the instant Stiles opened his eyes, but he’d had a long week, he’d barely slept, and now, having Stiles’ scent so nearby, having Stiles so nearby, it made it very easy to slip into sleep. 

Stiles blinked his eyes open, he wasn’t sure where he was but it was a dark room, a television flashing quietly in the background, he blinked again and the room came into focus. Stiles picked out sleeping bodies on the floor near him, he blinked again, he realized he was in the Hale house, what had once been his home. He couldn’t remember coming here, the last thing he remembered was being in the jungle, staring at the deep cuts in his chest, knowing he was losing too much blood and that he wouldn’t be strong enough to make the journey back. Except he’d got here somehow. 

He shifted slightly, feeling the blanket covering him move a moment before the pain hit him. He tried not to make a noise and disturb the sleeping pack, he wanted to roll over and go back to sleep, but if he was honest he really had to go to the toilet, which meant he needed to move. He looked again, the pack were all still asleep, the only person missing was Derek, Stiles figured that he would be in his bedroom with Leanne. He tried not to think about that, glad that he couldn’t remember getting here, glad that he hadn’t had to meet her just yet. 

It took him a few minutes to get sat upright, taking each movement slowly, trying to stay as calm as possible so his heart didn’t start racing and disturb the wolves. Stiles couldn’t help but think they all looked kind of peaceful in sleep, it reminded him of all the times they used to do this. His dad was snoring gently in a chair across the room and Stiles smiled gently, it was nice that his dad had the pack, that he had the support from them. He just hoped that it didn’t mean he’d get pushed out again if he started to annoy them again. 

He got to his feet, his vision blurring slightly with pain, but the need to go to the toilet was even more desperate now so he had no other option. He managed to take a single step, feeling incredibly proud of himself that he’d got to his feet without waking any of them up, before tripping over something lying on the floor and flying forwards, landing on his chest, groaning in pain as the room exploded into life. 

“What the hell!?” Derek was shouting, Stiles couldn’t even think about the fact he’d tripped over Derek, his chest really hurt. 

“Stiles!” Derek said panicked when he realised what had kicked him. Lydia was turning a light on, the rest of the pack awake and alert, ready for danger. Allison rushing towards Stiles who was still lying on the floor. 

“Stiles, are you okay?” Allison said and Stiles nodded slowly, his arms still wrapped around his chest.

“I’m fine.” Stiles said through gritted teeth, Derek could smell the pain and embarrassment coming from him. 

“What on earth were you doing!?” Lydia said, kneeling next to Stiles to make sure he was okay. 

“I needed the toilet.” Stiles muttered quietly, the pain lessening slightly, he glanced down to see Derek’s hand on his arm, drawing pain from him. Stiles looked up, met Derek’s eyes for a moment, before looking away, Derek looked upset and angry, probably that his sleep had been disturbed, that Stiles had woken the whole pack up. “Sorry.” Stiles said, knowing that he really wasn’t helping the whole ‘try not to be annoying’ plan he had. 

“Can you stand?” Scott said, waiting nearby and Stiles nodded warily, pulling away from Derek and accepting Scott’s help to get to his feet. Derek tried not to feel hurt by that, tried not to be upset about the fact that Stiles could barely look at him, tried not to be angry about the fact that Stiles was hurt and there was nothing he could do. 

As soon as Stiles was on his feet, nodding gratefully at Scott as he steadied himself, shuffling gingerly towards the doorway and then disappearing down the hall as the rest of the pack stared on in silence. 

Stiles stood in the guest bathroom, resting his head against the tiled wall and feeling like the biggest idiot. The last thing he’d wanted to do was disturb the pack, but he evidently couldn’t even get to the toilet without causing a big scene. He took a few minutes to catch his breath, trying to steady his heartbeat, get his hands to stop trembling before finally moving back towards the living room. 

He had sort of hoped that the pack had all gone back to their own rooms so that he could leave without any issues, except by the time he’d got back to the living room he knew he wasn’t going anywhere, he felt like passing out, he was exhausted, his legs trembling, he knew he wouldn’t have the energy to get out of the front door right now. 

That wasn’t an option anyway, as soon as he got in the doorway all eyes turned towards him, they were all awake and waiting for an explanation. Stiles moved slowly, lowering himself into one of the chairs near the door, as far away from Derek as possible, trying not to grimace with pain, knowing he probably failed. He was so tired, he just wanted to sleep, but he couldn’t the pack were all looking at him expectantly and he couldn’t just ignore them.

“How’s it going?” He said a minute later, finally breaking the silence. Jason grinned at him and Stiles smiled back tentatively. 

“What the hell happened Stiles?” John said, “You were only supposed to be getting rid of the body?”

“Funny story,” Stiles began, ignoring the way that his dad and Scott both shook their heads in despair, “for future reference, it’s not in any of the lore, but apparently camazotz like to travel in pairs, or at least those ones did.”

“There was a second one?” Isaac asked in horror.

“That’s becoming our new motto.” Stiles said sarcastically and Derek couldn’t help but grin at that, along with most of the pack. Stiles, however, looked horror-struck, glaring at the ground before sighing. “Yeah there was a second one. But it’s taken care of, and the bodies are both disposed of, so nothing to worry about.”

“And the fact that you passed out the instant you got here?” Derek said heatedly, “That’s nothing to worry about?” 

“No.” Stiles answered honestly, “I’m fine. I can handle myself.” 

“Sure looks like it.” Derek sneered sarcastically, trying to get some kind of reaction from Stiles, instead Stiles just took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. 

“Yes I got hurt, but I’ll be fine. It’s not a big deal.” Stiles said tonelessly, it had taken a lot to reply to that calmly when all he really wanted to do was scream at Derek, it wasn’t fair. Derek wasn’t supposed to sound like he cared about Stiles. That made everything harder.

“It’s a big deal to me. To us.” John replied quickly, “You know we were the ones that found you, that night in the woods, the night you cast the spell. Allison saved your life. She kept your heart beating, kept you alive.” Stiles was stunned, he hadn’t had any idea how he had gone from the forest to the hospital, but then since he’d ended up chained up in a cave and held captive by a shapeshifter it hadn’t been high on his priority list.

“I didn’t know that.” Stiles informed them, he was exhausted and the news that the pack had been the one to find him was making him feel very emotional. “Thank you.” Stiles said to Allison, his voice thick with emotion.

“Anytime.” Allison grinned. “Besides, you’re giving me plenty of training, I’m going to be top of the class.” Stiles couldn’t help the small laugh that earned, he was staring at the ground, ignorant of the looks of relief he got from the pack when he actually acted like Stiles for a second.

“You still look tired.” Erica said a moment later and Stiles shrugged.

“I’ll be fine.” 

“I’m exhausted.” Jackson said, “I don’t know about you guys but I actually need my sleep.”

“Yeah, if you don’t get your beauty sleep you are just useless.” Isaac grinned when Jackson stuck his tongue out in reply.

“Says you, you can’t even function before coffee.” Jackson retorted. Stiles couldn’t help but smirk at their antics, he’d missed them so much, he felt his eyes slipping closed without his permission, he fought to keep them open but they seemed to have a mind of their own. He fell asleep listening to the murmur of voices.

Derek watched as Stiles’ eyes slipped closed, as his breathing evened out, his heartbeat slowed slightly and he drifted into sleep. Derek looked around at the rest of his pack, the small smiles on their faces as they talked, glancing at Stiles, as if to check he was still there. It was in that moment that Derek realised that he would do absolutely anything to make sure Stiles stayed with the pack, stayed with them, even if Stiles didn’t stay with him. 

Eventually they all drifted back to sleep, it was the middle of the night after all, and no matter what kind of excitement they had just had, they were all still tired. Derek closed his eyes slowly, still watching Stiles sleeping, feeling more at peace than he had done in the past months.

Stiles woke up to the smell of coffee, he blinked open his eyes, the cup of coffee being wafted under his nose slowly coming into focus and Erica’s grin right behind it.

“He lives!” She crowed happily and Stiles blinked a few more times before reaching out and grabbing the cup of coffee. 

“Hey buddy, how are you feeling?” Scott said, standing in the doorway leading to the kitchen, Stiles could smell breakfast cooking and his stomach rumbled hungrily. Scott grinned in reply, “We’ve cooked extra for you, can you stand alright?” Stiles fought the urge to roll his eyes, placing his hands on the side of the chair and getting to his feet slowly, only wincing slightly as his injuries throbbed, before straightening up and shuffling towards the kitchen. 

Stiles glanced around the kitchen table, his dad, Isaac, Erica and Jackson were all sat down, Scott hovering nearby and Derek cooking by the stove. He wasn’t going to think how much he missed this, how he wished things could be like this now. 

“How did you sleep?” John asked, “You were really out of it.”

“Erm, okay.” Stiles admitted truthfully, in actual fact it was the best he had slept since before the poison, before Derek, but he wasn’t going to admit that.

“You still look a bit tired.” John said in his usual father’s tone and Stiles tried not to grin, he’d missed the concern in his dad’s voice. How could he have ever believed that Rick was his dad?

“I’ll be fine dad, just took a lot out of me.” 

“What did? The portal?” Erica quizzed.

“Erica,” Derek growled, “We agreed no questions until everyone is here.” Derek muttered, placing a plate on the table in front of Stiles that was piled high with bacon, sausages, scrambled eggs, toast, beans, tomatoes, mushrooms. Stiles’ stomach rumbled again. “Eat.” Derek said, shoving a fork in Stiles’ direction, he didn’t need telling twice, he dug in, moaning slightly at the taste, he’d forgotten how good Derek’s cooking was. Usually he would be talking as he shovelled the food into his mouth, but he made a conscious effort to be on his best behaviour, he didn’t want to annoy them, he didn’t want them to throw him out just yet. 

“You okay?” Isaac asked, not used to Stiles not chatting away to them during breakfast. “You’re very quiet?”

“I’m fine.” Stiles said in-between mouthfuls, studying his breakfast like it held the answers of the universe rather than looking at them. Derek leaned against the counter, watching Stiles eat in silence, hating that everything felt awkward and wrong, before storming out of the room to grab the rest of the pack, he needed answers and he needed them now.

Stiles was a bit confused when Derek stormed out of the room, he wasn’t sure what he’d done to cause that, he must be annoying him somehow, maybe Derek just didn’t want him here, maybe Derek thought having Stiles here would upset Leanne, he should probably leave. 

The rest of the pack piled into the room a minute later, Derek behind them, thankfully there was still no Leanne and Stiles was a little relieved about that, okay, maybe more than a little. 

“Hey Stiles,” Allison said, entering the kitchen with a grin on her face, approaching him quickly, sliding up his sleeves and checking the injuries on his arms quickly before Stiles could protest, “We’ll check the rest later, okay?” Stiles nodded unsure of what exactly was going on.

“How did you get here last night?” Lydia asked a minute later and Stiles shrugged. 

“I don’t really remember, I was in the jungle, I remember thinking that I needed to get out of there if I was going to live, but I didn’t think I had the strength to make the jump. I obviously tried anyway, and then I came here. But I don’t really remember getting here, I probably should have gone to Jack, he’s getting quite good at healing magic’s.” Stiles admitted. Derek struggled not to growl at the thought of Stiles going anywhere other than here. 

“Can’t you heal yourself? Are you not as good at healing? Is that why it took you so long to get rid of the poison?” Jackson queried.

“Yeah I can heal myself, the poison was a different story, it was a magic toxin, the more I tried to heal myself the more it spread, in the end it was just holding it at bay until I could find a way to get it out of my system,” Stiles answered honestly, “This isn’t the same thing, I should be able to heal myself pretty easily but my powers are pretty low at the moment, it’ll take a day or two to get the levels back up enough that I can heal myself and get out of your hair.”

“You don’t need to get out of our hair, you’re welcome here Stiles.” Lydia said softly. “Why are your powers so low anyway? Was it the storm? Did that take up a lot of power?” Stiles was silent for a moment clearing his throat, blushing slightly. 

“No, it wasn’t the storm, it was the jumps, I haven’t been doing them very long, it was mainly to avoid being gutted by the camazotz, everything I’d read suggested they were incredibly fast, faster than anything else I’d gone up against and I had an idea about how to keep out of their way, but it’s new magic to me so it takes time to build up a tolerance to it, I didn’t expect to have to use it quite so much yesterday.”

“What’s a jump?” Boyd asked and Stiles blushed nervously.

“Erm, well, I kind of came up with the idea from the portal magic, it’s something similar.” Stiles explained. 

“Jack and Ella said that you came up with the magic that created the portals?” Scott questioned.

“I guess, I mean, really it was just piecing a few different spells together, messing with the casting of them before I actually got it to go right.” Stiles replied modestly. 

“So you created the spell portal? And then you found a way to make these jumps? Which are what exactly? And be specific.” Derek said, knowing how Stiles liked to talk about everything but what you wanted to hear. 

“Okay.” Stiles said slowly, dragging the word out, obviously trying to buy himself time to think.

“Now Stiles.” Derek growled and Stiles glanced up at him in shock.

“Alright. Yes, I created the portal spell, yes, I figured out how to make jumps. They are the same sort of thing, moving from one place to the other, but without the portal.”

“So, teleportation?” Isaac asked and Stiles nodded in confirmation. “Dude, that is so freaking cool.” 

“So you can go anywhere you want? Just by what? Thinking about it and casting a spell?” Erica said incredulously.

“Sort of.” Stiles said, sighing slightly, rubbing his eyes slightly, “I mean, in principle, yeah, it’s basically the same thing. But, whereas the portal only let’s in people who are in trouble and who need help, the jumps allow me to move whenever and wherever I decide to.” 

“So you could do it now?” Jason said and Stiles shook his head.

“No. The longer the jump the more energy it takes. I came here yesterday, worried about the second shifter, when I left it took more energy, then I had to use more fighting the second camazotz and then obviously getting back here just sort of finished me off. My magic is coming back, slowly, it just needs time to restore itself, then I can heal.”

“Can you take anyone else with you?” Jason asked excitedly, “Just it would be really great if we could just make the jump to work rather than driving?” Stiles stared at him, his mouth hanging open in shock. 

“Erm,” Stiles began.

“You are coming back aren’t you? Now you’re not dying and not a shapeshifter and everything?” Jason said hurriedly and Stiles gaped at him wordlessly. 

“I guess, I mean, I’d probably have to talk to Andy, see if he could write me back into the show, if he’d be willing to…”

“Are you kidding me!? As soon as Andy found out you were out of the hospital he was harassing me to find out when you were coming back. I told him you needed a bit of time to get your head straight, but obviously that was back when the shifter was impersonating you, now you’re back and you want to come back to work, don’t you?”

“Yeah.” Stiles admitted, this was what he wanted, he wanted to be home with the pack, but it meant he was going to have to deal with Derek and Leanne on at least a semi-regular basis and that was going to be really hard. “Yeah, I’d like that.” 

“Cool, I’ll call Andy in a minute, tell him you want back in, when do you think you can start back? Is Monday too soon?” Jason said excitedly, Stiles felt a little overwhelmed.

“Breath Jason.” Derek said, Jason glanced at him, saw the look of worry on his face, then turned back to Stiles, saw that Stiles was looking more than a little pale. 

“Sorry, just, I’m excited you’re back.” Jason said and Stiles smiled at him easily. 

“It’s okay.” Stiles replied, sighing slightly, “I just, this is all a lot to process, you know, I’m sure it took you guys a few days to wrap your head around everything?”

“Sure it did.” Scott confirmed, “I mean, even now, we still have blips, I mean, Stiles, you were here, with us, we didn’t know it wasn’t you, there’s things we talked about, things that happened, that we expect you to know because we told you, and yet you don’t know it.” His voice cracking slightly, “I mean, how could we not realise Stiles? How could we not know? How could we spend that time with you and not realise?” 

“I feel a little like we’re going in circles here, I’ll tell you it wasn’t your fault, you’ll tell me it wasn’t mine. The fact is those shifters messed with all of us, but they’re dead, so we need to put it behind us, what’s done is done and all that.” Stiles responded. 

“So you know that I wouldn’t have ever let you go off to cast that spell without me, without us there to help in whatever way we could?” John said and Stiles nodded, looking a little teary eyed.

“So, what’s our next step?” Jackson asked, getting curious glances in his direction, “I’m just meaning, where do we go from here? Obviously Stiles doesn’t hate us, we don’t hate him, so what next? Do we just go back to how things were before all of this? Are you going to move back in here?”

Stiles stared at Jackson in shock before glancing to Derek, meeting his eyes for only a moment before staring back down at his nearly finished breakfast. 

“I don’t think that’s the best idea.” Stiles said, he could deal with seeing Derek and Leanne on a semi-regular basis, he’d have to deal with that, but living with them, having to see Derek happy, just not with him, he didn’t know if he could manage that. 

Derek watched as Stiles fiddled nervously with the sleeves on his t-shirt at the very thought of moving back in with them and tried not to frown. Stiles could barely look at him, that had to be because of the shifter, because of the torture, Derek wished he’d spent a longer time killing Doctor Fox too, that he’d made her suffer just as much as Stiles was still suffering. 

“I mean,” Stiles continued, biting his lip gently, Derek hated when Stiles did that, it made him want to be the one biting Stiles’ lip, the one running his tongue inside his mouth, it wasn’t fair. “I just don’t think everyone would be comfortable with that.” 

“Are you serious?” Isaac said in surprise, “Of course we would, we’d all love to have you here, have you home.” 

“Yeah we would.” Jason agreed, the rest of the pack nodding quickly in agreement. Stiles was still biting his lip and Derek couldn’t help but stare at it. 

“What about Leanne?” Stiles whispered, so quietly that Derek almost missed it.

“What?” Scott said in confusion. 

“Leanne?” Stiles said slightly louder, “I mean, I don’t think she’d be happy about me being here.”

“What are you on about?” Scott repeated, “You know Leanne isn’t real.” He paused, his features freezing in shock as he realised that Stiles didn’t know that, he could see the shock on the rest of the pack’s faces too. “Except you don’t. Shit, sorry Stiles, we should have made sure you knew that too.” Stiles was staring at them all in confusion, Derek could hear his heart pounding loudly, starting to race with the confusion. 

“Alright, I think Stiles and I need to talk.” Derek said quietly, not wanting to spook Stiles any further, especially as he looked like he was on the verge of a panic attack. “The rest of you go do something else.” Derek ordered and watched as the pack glanced between Stiles, who was still sat at the table a look of complete shock on his face, and then Derek who was frowning at them to hurry up and leave. “Come on.” Derek said to Stiles, once they’d all left, surprised when Stiles followed him in silence into the living room, the television still on in the background. “Sit down.” Derek said quietly before going to his office and pulling out the photos that had started this whole mess. 

When he returned to the living room Stiles was sat in one of the chairs, staring at the television but not really seeming to see it, instead he was staring into space, as if his whole world had just turned on its axis, Derek guessed it had. Derek moved to the table a few feet in front of Stiles, sitting down on it and forcing Stiles to meet his gaze. 

“Here.” Derek said handing Stiles the photographs, Stiles took them slowly, a look of confusion on his features, before he finally looked at them. It took Stiles a moment to see exactly what was happening in the phots before he handed them back to Derek, looking like he was about to be sick.

“They aren’t real. They’re obviously faked or…” Stiles began.

“I know.” Derek answered honestly, “I mean, I didn’t at the time. Rick turned up with them, said he’d had them verified, your dad had them checked too. They are real photos Stiles.” 

“They aren’t.” Stiles argued. “I couldn’t, I wouldn’t have done that, I hate the guy.” Stiles said, his eyes filling up with unshed tears.

“I know that too.” Derek replied softly, “The shifters faked them, then Rick gave them to me, confirmed that they were real, and when I called you to talk about it, you admitted it, said it was a mistake, but that it had happened.”

“I didn’t…”

“I know, Stiles, I know that now. I know that it was the shifters, but at the time I didn’t, and when you said it was true, well, that was it, I ended it.” Stiles was sat silently as Derek spoke, seemingly horrified that Derek had ever thought that. “Rick told me that he’d shifted into you for the photo, when Lydia spoke to Ed and he said he’d never kissed you either, that was when we figured out that there was a second shifter.” Derek stopped, allowing Stiles to try and process the information as calmly as possible, “That’s why we split up Stiles, not for any other reason, and I know that you got a different story, a different reason, Doctor Fox told me that much, but whatever she said to you, whatever she told you, that’s not why I did it. This is.” He finished, placing his hand on the photographs to make sure Stiles got the message.

Stiles swallowed loudly, biting at his lip nervously, his eyes full of confusion, Derek could practically see his mind racing. 

“So,” Stiles whispered, sounding terrified, “When you called me, when you dumped me, it wasn’t you?” Derek nodded quickly, “What about what you said? Did you mean that? Is that how you feel?” Stiles was almost trembling and it hurt Derek to see him so upset.

“I don’t know what was said Stiles,” He admitted, reaching out and placing a hand tentatively on Stiles’ knee, letting out the breath he’d been holding when Stiles didn’t immediately shove him away, “I do know that I love you.” Derek whispered, “I love you so much and when I saw you in the preserve, the night you cast the spell, your heart not beating, you not breathing, I felt like my whole world had collapsed.” 

“Don’t.” Stiles said, pushing his hand away, pulling his knees to his chest and tears starting to spill down his cheeks, “Don’t.” Stiles repeated and Derek pulled away feeling distraught, he’d been so sure that Stiles still loved him too, he’d just made things even worse. “Please don’t say things you don’t mean.” Stiles whispered.

“But I mean them.” Derek said, jumping on the chance to fix this, forcing Stiles to meet his gaze, “Stiles, I mean every word. I love you. I love you. I love you. I would do anything for you, whatever you asked, if it meant you’d give me another chance. If you’d give us another chance.”

“Until you get bored of me again?” Stiles whispered and Derek looked at him, eyes wide with denial.

“No.” He said firmly, “Stiles I wouldn’t ever get bored of you. You’re amazing, you’re incredible, you’re funny and smart, you’re loyal…”

“I’m annoying, I’m loud, stubborn and argumentative, frustrating, overly dramatic, always making things into a bigger deal than they need to be, causing a scene and on top of all that, I’m not what you want, I could never be what you want.” Stiles said, repeating the words that had echoed in his mind every day and night since Derek had ended things. 

“No.” Derek said looking horror-struck, staring at Stiles with such anger his gaze that it made Stiles tremble slightly, “How could you think that? How could you ever think that I wouldn’t want you Stiles? How could you believe that? We’re supposed to be true mates; you honestly think that I wouldn’t want that with you?” 

“I told you that.” Stiles answered, “I told you that we were supposed to be together. You told me you made it up because you wanted sex, but that because I wasn’t putting out you got fed up of waiting.”

“You’re an idiot.” Derek huffed, ignoring the look of hurt on Stiles’ face, “If you think for one second that I wouldn’t become fucking celibate if it meant that I got to be with you then you are an idiot.” He concluded. Stiles was looking at him with such a stunned expression that Derek couldn’t help but believe that there was hope. “Stiles, I have loved you from the moment I first met you and I won’t ever stop loving you. Believe me, I tried. When I thought that you were with Ed, that you’d left me for him,” Stiles looked like he was about to speak but Derek held up a hand to silence him, “Wait, just wait, please.” Derek pleaded, “Let me just say this, I tried to hate you Stiles, I tried to date other people because maybe it would make it hurt less, maybe it would stop this hole in my chest that felt like my heart had been torn out, but it didn’t, because they weren’t you, so I tried to hate you, I tried to feel okay with going out on dates that weren’t with you but it wasn’t right. When I heard that you’d been poisoned, when you were dying, I couldn’t think straight, I couldn’t breathe, Stiles, I can’t stop loving you and more importantly I don’t want to. Not ever. So please, please, you don’t have to forgive me, but you do have to believe me.” 

Stiles sat in silence, obviously thinking over what Derek had said, Derek was pretty sure he was going to explode if Stiles didn’t say something soon. Instead Stiles lowered his legs slowly back to the ground, swiped at the tear tracks on his cheeks, and took a few steadying breaths. 

“Okay.” Stiles said simply and Derek looked at him in confusion, “Okay I believe you, but there’s nothing to forgive. This wasn’t your fault; you did what you thought was right with the information you had.” Stiles confirmed. Derek could only look at him relieved, Stiles believed him, there was still hope. 

“Good.” Derek replied, “So,” He said a bit unsure, “Does this mean that you’ll think about coming home? Staying here? I’m not meaning, you know, that we go back to the way we were, but you are still welcome here.” 

“I’ll think about it.” Stiles said quietly, “I just, I think I need some time to process, figure out how much wasn’t real. And maybe sleep some more. I need way more beauty sleep than Jackson.” Stiles finished, a slight smile on his lips. Derek couldn’t help the grin on his face. 

“Sure.” He replied, “You can sleep here, or in the guest room, or even back at your dad’s if you prefer? Although I don’t know how clean it will be, your dad practically lives here now anyway.” Derek admitted and Stiles grinned, although he looked exhausted. 

“It’s because he likes your cooking, he just won’t ever admit to it.” Stiles replied and Derek laughed lightly. “I’ll probably just have a bit of a power nap here if that’s okay?” Stiles added and Derek nodded eagerly. 

“Yeah that’s absolutely fine. I’ll tell the pack to let you sleep.” He said, already leaving the room.

Stiles woke up in the warmth, he felt like he’d slept for days but he knew that couldn’t be the case. He’d dreamt of the pack, their faces shifting and melting until they all looked like Rick or Doctor Fox, he’d dreamt of two Derek’s facing off against each other, one screaming at him, the other pleading with him to believe him. He’d woken up to the sound of the television, some of the pack were gathered in the front room, others in the kitchen if the sounds were anything to go by, watching some rubbish on the television, oblivious to the fact that Stiles was slowly blinking himself awake. Jason, John and Erica walked in a few minutes later, clutching at cups of coffee, not noticing Stiles studying the quiet pack. Stiles ached, his chest hurt, he was tired and worn out, but he felt a lot better than he had done in months, things finally beginning to make sense to him that had never made sense before. 

Whatever programme the pack had been watching had just finished and the news was coming on, Stiles stirred slightly, noticing Derek turn his gaze on him.

“Welcome to channel twelve news, it’s four in the afternoon and I’m Mandy Braithwaite.” The woman on the screen said, Stiles was at least grateful to figure out what time it was, no wonder he was hungry. “Our top story today is the video of disgraced actor Ed Kimble that was released earlier today. Ed is best known for his role in the latest Spiderman film that is due for release next week, alongside his co-star Stiles Stilinski. Ed was rumoured to be involved with Stiles, which led to the breakup of Stiles’ relationship with Derek Hale. However, after last week’s confirmation that our favourite couple is back together, Ed has gone on a downward spiral.” Stiles sat up a little straighter, ignoring the pain in his chest to see the picture on the screen clearly. That was Derek and Stiles kissing, in the rain, with Derek in his boxers. Stiles definitely didn’t remember that. He glanced across at Derek confused who blushed.

“The shifter.” Derek said as an explanation. Lydia glanced at Derek, saw that Stiles was awake and jumped guiltily.

“Hey Stiles, how are you feeling? We can turn this off, it’s nothing.” Lydia said already grabbing the remote from the sofa next to Allison. 

“No, it’s fine.” Stiles muttered, watching the television silently. 

“Originally it was believed that Ed had taken the breakup with Stiles hard, and that was what was to blame for his heavy drinking and outrageous behaviour in the past few weeks. However, the past few days have shown a new side to Ed’s extreme behaviour. We have confirmation of a scuffle between Ed and the director of Spiderman, Joe Symonds, when they bumped into each other last night. We’ll show the video in a moment.” The reporter stated before the screen faded to black and a street view appeared, clearly showing Ed and Joe glaring at each other.

“You honestly think that jumped up little shit will make you any money? Wandering around like he’s so much better than everyone else, just because you thought he’d make a good Spiderman. You’re an idiot Joe.”

“Ed, you’re causing a scene. Go home. Sober up.” 

“Don’t tell me what to do. You’re not the boss of me. I’m good at what I do, I fucking sold the lie that I could actually stand that piece of crap, I went to the hospital, made it look like I cared, you see him acting like that? He hasn’t got half of my skill.”

“Stiles didn’t act like he liked you because he didn’t. No-one does.” Joe retorted angrily. “He never acted like he liked you, but he was at least still professional with you, which is a damn sight more than I can say for you! Calling my crew all the names under the sun, turning up late, turning up drugged out of your mind, not turning up at all. Do you think if Stiles had had any idea that you were trying to make it look like you were a couple that he would have had anything to do with it!? He didn’t know just how manipulative you are, what you were trying to do, but I do. Believe me Ed, I will make sure I don’t have you on any future projects, and I’ll make sure everyone else knows not to take you on either, not if they want to keep their sanity.”

“Oh, of course, defend Saint Stilinski. Like he’s perfect or some shit. He’s not. He’s shit. He’s a shit actor. He’s a shit person. Faking like he cares about people just to get success. Hey, I can do that too, he doesn’t have an ounce of my talent and you are making a big mistake Joe!” Ed threatened.

“What’s my wife’s name? What’s my assistant director’s name? What about the producer? Anyone? Can you name a single member on my team other than myself or any of the other main actors?”

“That has nothing to do with anything!” Ed shouted, pushing Joe slightly.

“It has everything to do with it! Stiles could tell me every single one of their names, if they had kids, what their kids were called, when their birthdays are, if they had a dentist or doctor’s appointment, any of that crap. Because he actually cares. He wants what is best for the film, which means a team that gets on, it’s the only reason he didn’t kick the shit out of you, so don’t you dare say he’s not twice the man you are. Now get the hell out of my sight.” Joe shouted right back, evidently not caring that he was causing a massive scene, Stiles couldn’t help but feel guilty about it, especially when Ed swung a fist at Joe, nearly knocking the slightly older man off his feet, before Joe charged him and slammed him into the ground, punching him squarely in the face and knocking him out before climbing off him, glaring at Ed in disgust and walking away.

“As you can see from the previous footage, both Ed and Joe were arguing about actor Stiles Stilinski, from this conversation it is obvious that not only were Stiles and Ed never a couple, but that Stiles didn’t seem to know much about it at all.” Mandy finished. 

The pack were all gaping at Stiles who shrugged as calmly as possible.

“I read that the papers thought we’d split up because of something with Ed, I never realised that he was playing it up for them. I just thought he was trying to act like a nice guy in front of the cameras so they wouldn’t realise what a dick he was.” Stiles said, standing up and heading towards the kitchen counter, “Did you guys see my phone? I think I need to call Joe and apologise.”

“Here.” Isaac said throwing it across to Stiles who caught it, only wincing slightly, “Sorry Stiles, I totally forgot!” Isaac said in horror. 

“Don’t worry about it.” Stiles grinned in reply, holding himself a bit stiffly as he called Joe. “Hey Joe, it’s Stiles.”

“Hey kiddo, how are you doing? I’ve been wanting to call, but I know you’d had a lot going on and I didn’t want to intrude. How are you feeling?”

“Don’t worry Joe, I’m doing okay. On the mend now which is good.”

“So, you’re not dying anymore? It’s all been a bit quiet on the news front, no-one really knows what’s going on?”

“No not dying.” Stiles laughed gently, “They managed to find a way to remove the poison at the last minute, I just needed a bit of time to get back on my feet. I,” Stiles paused, “I saw what happened with you and Ed, I just wanted to say thanks, you didn’t have to stick up for me like that, and also, sorry, that you had to deal with that.”

“Don’t be. The little prick got what was coming to him.” Joe growled. “Look, kid, I’m not going to tell you how to do things, but maybe you should get your agent, what’s his name, to get onto the press, tell them what’s been going on? If they know what’s happening they might back off a bit, give you some space.”

“Rick’s not around anymore.” Stiles answered honestly, “But, you are right. I’ll talk to them later today, let them know the story.”

“Alright, well, take it easy kid, we going to see you at the premier next week?” 

“I’m not sure yet, I’ll let you know nearer the time, say hi to Becky and the kids for me?”

“Will do, talk to you later Stiles.” Joe said before hanging up and Stiles smiled at the phone. He liked Joe, he was a good guy. He thought of Andy, he should probably be next on the list, then he’d have to figure out what he was going to say to the press.

“Hey Andy,” Stiles said as soon as the call connected, ignoring the way that Derek had wandered into the kitchen.

“Stiles!” Andy exclaimed in surprise, “Good to hear from you! How are you feeling?”

“I’m on the mend Andy, look, I’m still pretty tired so I can’t chat for long, just, I wanted to let you know I what to come back to work, if you’ll have me?”

“Are you kidding me? Of course I want you back, I wrote a second version of the season just in case you found a way to come back. We’ve only shot one episode without you, I can definitely find a way to bring you back. Just tell me when you can come back in.”

“I need a few days to rest, maybe Tuesday if that works?”

“Not a problem. Rest up kid and I’ll see you then.” Andy grinned.

“Alright, see you then Andy.” Stiles replied happily, his stomach tying itself in knots, he was nervous. Even though he now knew everything, all the lies he’d fallen for, he still wasn’t sure that things were just going to go back to normal, he still couldn’t believe that he wasn’t annoying and the pack didn’t hate him, it would probably take time to gain that confidence back. 

He headed back into the living room, not really surprised when everyone turned to look at him.

“So you’re starting back on Tuesday?” Jason asked, although Stiles knew that he’d heard every word of the conversation, “This is going to be epic man, I missed you.” Jason said, jumping up and hugging Stiles. Stiles grinned into his shoulder, glad that Jason was so easy to please. 

“I said I’d make some kind of statement to the press, let them know I’m still alive and everything. Then maybe they’ll back off for a while?”

“Well you only have to go to the end of the drive to speak to them.” John replied, surprising Stiles who looked at him waiting for more of an explanation, “They’ve been camped out there ever since you were released from the hospital, all of them desperate to get an exclusive with you. I’m just glad fake you didn’t get a chance to say anything to them because of the storm.”

“That’s a relief I guess.” Stiles said, already trying to run through how he could possibly explain still being alive. 

“What are you going to say?” Scott asked, “I mean they’re going to want to know how you survived the poison?”

“I figure spontaneous remission?” Stiles queried, “I mean Doctor Fox said it was a possibility, right? So they can’t argue with that and I wouldn’t have to have an explanation?”

“Sounds good to me.” John nodded. “You want to do it now? Get it over and done with?”

“I guess. Maybe just give me ten minutes to clean up slightly.” Stiles said a little nervously, pulling on his sleeves slightly.

“Would you like me to come with you? Or any of us? All of us?” John asked and Stiles blushed slightly. 

“Would you mind?” He almost whispered.

“Of course not.” John grinned. “You go get cleaned up and then I’ll grab my coat and we’ll head down there.” Derek was staring at Stiles who was still chewing on his lip nervously. 

“We will too.” He said firmly, although the pack didn’t really need any motivation, most of them already on their feet and ready to go. Stiles smiled slightly, almost shyly, at them before he turned around and headed for the bathroom.

Stiles took a few minutes to clean himself up a bit, Derek wasn’t going to admit he was going to miss the stubble just a little bit, although Stiles looked like he had a bit more colour and not like he was in quite as much pain as he had been. 

Derek drained his pain as they walked, his hand circling Stiles’ wrist discreetly, Stiles nodded at him gratefully and Derek tried not to grin, feeling Stiles’ skin under his own gave him such a rush, he felt giddy. 

As soon as the reporters came into view Derek let go, not wanting Stiles to feel any more on the spot. It was obvious when the reporters saw them, jumping out of their vans, cameras going off, videos starting to be filmed, it was a little crazy.

“Erm, hi.” Stiles said awkwardly, waving at them slightly, there were a few huffs of laughter from the reporters. “I just thought I’d come down here and let you guys know I’m still alive.” 

“Have you recovered from the poison then Stiles!?” One reporter called out and Stiles nodded. 

“Yeah, some kind of spontaneous remission, I don’t really understand how and I’m not going to question it. But, I’m alive, I intend to be for quite a while yet and I’ll be back filming ‘City of the Dead’ next week, so if you guys want to head home, get some showers, get cleaned up, then feel free. There’s nothing else to announce just yet.” Stiles rambled. 

“Stiles!” Another reporter called out as he went to turn away, “What about your agent Rick? We heard reports of his body being found in the woods, seemingly killed in an animal attack?” Stiles frowned slightly for a minute before glancing to his dad for advice.

“I can confirm that Rick Ness’ body was found in an abandoned cabin two weeks ago. All signs point to an animal attack, it isn’t uncommon in these parts, the preserve is a wild place and people who aren’t prepared for it and then go stumbling through there are more likely to suffer from these accidents. We are, of course, doing everything we can to track and destroy the animal involved in this attack, but the preserve is a big place and, as of yet, we haven’t had any luck.” John said formally. 

“So, what does this mean for you Stiles?” The same reporter called, “Weren’t you found out there the same night? Did an animal attack you? Is that why you were admitted to the hospital with wounds on your chest and wrists?” Stiles paled slightly and Derek fought back a growl at the questions, he wanted to know how the hell the reporter had got that information. 

“Actually, no.” Stiles said honestly, “I wasn’t attacked by an animal.” He paused, obviously weighing up his choices before speaking again, “I went out into the preserve that night because I wanted to die somewhere that felt peaceful, and the way things were going I didn’t think I would make it to the morning. In my infinite genius I managed to fall over a tree and down a slope, cutting myself in a multitude of places before I managed to stop myself. By that time, I was too weak to get up and I figured that it was all over. That’s when my dad and the rest of my family turned up and saved my life. Without them I wouldn’t have survived. I owe them my life.” Stiles said sincerely. 

“So you didn’t go out into the preserve with the intention of killing yourself?” The same reporter shouted, “Only you’d said previously that you would and I quote ‘have something to drink and go for a drive.’ Do you really think that’s a good message to send to people?” Stiles paled again and Derek was pretty sure he was going to tear the reporters throat out if he didn’t shut up.

“Of course not. But, people find themselves in situations, I found myself in a situation, that I’d never dreamt of in a million years. I wanted to protect my family, protect them from having to suffer through it with me. The instant that tape was released, which by the way, total breach of my privacy, that wasn’t an option for me anymore. My family knew the truth. I couldn’t protect them by keeping them in the dark. Maybe it wasn’t the right choice in a lot of people’s eyes, but it was the right choice in mine. Now, I’d really like to spend some time with my family before I head back to work so if you’ll excuse me…”

“Stiles!” Another reporter shouted out, “Wait! What about you and Derek? We saw the picture of you and Derek! Are you guys back together? Why did you split up? How do you feel Ed is taking your breakup?”

“Okay, number one,” Stiles said firmly, pursing his lips, “Ed and I were never together, there was never anything between us other than a professional working relationship. Anyone who thinks otherwise has clearly read one too many papers, ones that are happy to publish stories without any facts.” He glared at the reporter, “Secondly, Derek and I did not split up because of Ed.” Stiles glanced across at Derek, chewing his lip, obviously thinking of a way to explain what happened without mentioning shapeshifters, “We split up because of a massively dysfunctional lack of communication between the two of us, not helped at all by rumours published that I was dating Ed, and certainly not helped by my former agent Rick who confirmed the rumours to Derek and probably spread the rumours to you guys too.” 

Derek smirked slightly, Stiles was very good at this thinking on the spot stuff. 

“So does that mean you are back together? The whole world wants Sterek back.” A different reporter shouted. 

Stiles glanced to Derek, who met his gaze and grinned ever so slightly, Stiles blushed and that made Derek grin even wider, he loved seeing Stiles flustered. 

“Erm, well, we’re taking our time getting to know each other again. Like I said, there’s been a lot of miscommunication, right now we’re just aiming for friends again.” Stiles answered and Derek tried not to be hurt by that. He hoped he managed to pull it off. 

Stiles turned to leave this time and no-one called him back, Derek could hear him sigh in relief. They headed back to the house, Stiles looking completely and utterly exhausted by the time they got back. Derek fully expected him to sink into a nearby chair and go to sleep, instead Stiles headed into the soundproofed office, motioning for Derek to follow him, and Derek, because he was a complete fool and seemingly enjoyed punishing himself, followed him in while the rest of the pack headed off to do their own things. 

“Hey.” Stiles said, “Do you mind if we talk?” Derek shook his head, shutting the door behind him as Stiles leaned against the bookcases behind him. “I wanted to say I’m sorry, about what I said in front of the reporters. I just, I don’t know where I stand, I don’t know what happens now, you know, I didn’t want to say we were back together if that’s not what you want.”

“What do you want?” Derek said, hope blooming in his chest, taking a step towards Stiles who sighed, rubbing his eyes wearily. 

“I want things to go back to how they were, before all of this, before I left. But I don’t know if they can. I mean, Derek, you thought I cheated on you, I can’t even begin to imagine how much that must have hurt you.” Stiles confessed, Derek took another step closer to him. 

“You thought I didn’t want you. I can’t imagine how much that must have torn you up.” Derek told him, “So we both got hurt, because of lies, but neither of us actually hurt each other. You didn’t cheat on me and I didn’t reject you…”

“You’re probably going to need to tell me that a few more times yet.” Stiles whispered, suddenly noticing just how close Derek was, “I mean,” He stammered, “I know it wasn’t you, who said it, but I’ve spent the past six months convinced that everything that I was, that makes me, well, me, was wrong and that’s what drove you away. It might take me a little bit of time to forget that.” 

“If it helps you, I’ll tell you every day how much I love you, how perfect you are to me.” Derek whispered, taking another step closer to Stiles, easily within touching distance now. 

“You’d still want to be with me? Even after all this? After all that craziness that I caused?”

“You didn’t cause it Stiles.” Derek said, refusing to tear his gaze away from Stiles as he took another step closer.

“I left. I went away. I made it possible.” Stiles whispered, chewing his lip nervously. 

“They would have found another way. It wasn’t your fault. And, to answer you other question, I want nothing more than to be with you.” Derek said, taking another step forward, Stiles took a small step backwards, hitting the bookcase and then blushing slightly when he realised that he’d cornered himself. Derek grinned, he loved when Stiles blushed.

“Which means you’d be willing to give us another shot?” Stiles muttered, sounding a little awestruck. Derek had had enough with talking, he leaned in, placing his hands against either side of Stiles, making sure he couldn’t run away, before moving quickly and pressing his lips against Stiles’. It felt like lightning rushing through his body, it felt like the first time they’d ever done this. Derek moved his body closer, crowding against Stiles, feeling Stiles’ lips soft against his, his mouth parting slightly, deepening the kiss. Derek pushed closer, knowing that Stiles would be feeling the bookcase digging into his back slightly. 

“Derek…” Stiles whispered against his lips, Derek could barely think straight, feeling Stiles so close, inhaling his scent, hearing the beating of his heart, it was overwhelming. “We should really talk…”

“Shut up and let me kiss you.” Derek mumbled as Stiles laughed gently against his lips, growling slightly at the movement. 

“I’m serious.” Stiles laughed, pushing his lips away gently, Derek refused to back up anymore, not wanting to lose contact with Stiles, “I need you to know, I love you too, I never stopped loving you, and I’m an idiot for not telling you that every single day.” 

“I love you too.” Derek said, “I love you Stiles, I love every little thing about you, I love you, I love you.” Derek repeated, kissing Stiles repeatedly as his confessed his love. 

Stiles grinned widely, pulling Derek back towards him, kissing him softly, sweetly, gently, Derek biting at Stiles’ lower lip, sucking at it just as he had been fantasizing about doing all day. 

“Please tell me this is real.” Stiles whispered and Derek stopped the kiss, resting his forehead against Stiles’, taking a moment to catch his breath, he’d forgotten how good it felt to kiss Stiles, how easily it took his breath away.

“It’s real Stiles, I’m real, I’m me and I love you so damn much it hurts. Please believe me, believe that I love you.” Derek replied. 

“I want to.” Stiles muttered, “But I’m scared, I know how ridiculous that sounds, but Derek, last time I barely held it together, I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t think, it felt like a hole had been punched clear through my chest every second of the day, I don’t know that I can survive that again, I can’t go through it again.”

“You won’t. We won’t.” Derek insisted. “I can’t lose you again either, I won’t. I fell apart too, if I hadn’t had the pack, well, I don’t know how you did it Stiles, getting through it by yourself, you are so much stronger than I thought you were and I am so proud of you, and all I want,” Derek took a trembling breath, “All I want Stiles, is to wake up in the mornings and see you still sleeping next to me, to hear you singing in the shower when you think no-one else can hear you, to watch you chewing on your pencil when you’re studying your lines, or when you’re looking up some new creature that might be about to attack us, I want to come home and find you here, watching television, laughing about something with the pack, kissing you hello, never ever kissing you goodbye again. I won’t lose that. I won’t let you go, you are stuck with me, forever.”

“I’m pretty sure I can live with that.” Stiles grinned, looking a little teary. “You mean it? Really?” 

“Of course I do Stiles, I will tell you every single day how much you mean to me and I won’t ever let you go again. You understand me? You have no choice in the matter, you are stuck with me.” Derek teased, trying to get a smile from Stiles, thankfully it worked.

“Kidnapping me might attract some attention you know, especially if I don’t turn up for work on Tuesday.” Stiles replied sarcastically and Derek laughed loudly. 

“I missed you, god I missed you so much.” Derek said, kissing Stiles again, loving the way that Stiles practically melted under his mouth, his lips soft and yielding under Derek’s, causing Derek to moan quietly as he pressed his whole body against Stiles’, determined to have as much contact with Stiles as possible.

“I missed you too.” Stiles replied, the words almost lost in the kiss.

There was a knock on the door a few minutes later and Derek and Stiles broke the kiss, Derek pulling away slightly but refusing to remove his hands from Stiles’ hips, studying his swollen lips, his pupils blown wide with desire, the look of complete shock and joy on his face, nobody would blame him for not being ready to let go of Stiles just yet. 

“Derek!” Jason shouted through the door, “I need to speak to Stiles. Are you guys going to stop making out and come out here already?” 

Derek growled at the door, his eyes flashing Alpha red and Stiles snorted with laughter, wriggling slightly, until Derek held him firmer in place, turning back to kiss Stiles again, Stiles groaning slightly as Derek ground their hips together, his mouth parting and letting Derek slip his tongue inside. 

“Guys!” Jason whined, “I’m serious.” 

Derek huffed out a sigh and Stiles tried not to grin at the look of exasperation on Derek’s face. 

“I’m sure this room was soundproof when I was last here.” Stiles grinned and Derek frowned. 

“It is.” 

“So how does he know we’re making out?” Stiles asked then sighed, “You bloody werewolves and your super sense of smell.” Stiles laughed, Derek took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of their arousal and grinned. 

“It would be pretty hard not to smell it actually.” He conceded, Stiles laughed, making Derek’s heart skip a beat, he loved that sound. 

“Come on then, we should probably find out what’s so important.” Stiles said, swiping his hand across his face slightly, rubbing at his eyes. Stiles looked weary and Derek suddenly remembered that Stiles was supposed to be resting, taking it easy, recovering his energy, not having a heavy make out session, although he didn’t think Stiles was going to complain about it. 

Stiles held his hand tightly as they walked to the door, Derek not able to help the grin on his face as they headed to the door, wishing that they’d had a little more time to talk before the interruption but accepting that they would have time later. 

“What’s wrong?” Derek asked Jason as soon as the door opened. 

“Erm,” Jason said nervously, “I need to talk to Stiles.” 

“Sure thing.” Stiles said, grinning slightly, amused by just how nervous Jason looked. “Chill dude, Derek’s not going to bite your head off for interrupting us. What’s up?” 

“You’re smiling, both of you.” Jason said stunned. Stiles turned to look at Derek, both of them wearing identical grins, Stiles blushing slightly. 

“So you interrupted us to tell us that?” Derek said, already about to shut the door in Jason’s face so he could start kissing Stiles again. 

“No.” Jason said blushing, holding out his phone, “Andy just sent through the new script and I wanted Stiles to…”

“Already?” Stiles said shocked, reaching out to take the phone, “He doesn’t hang about does he!” Stiles laughed, “Want to do a read through?” He asked, rubbing at his eyes slightly, he was tired, but he wanted to see what Andy had in store for them. 

“If you weren’t too busy?” Jason grinned. 

“I wasn’t doing anything too important I guess.” Stiles teased as Derek laughed at him, pulling him into a quick kiss, loving the feel of Stiles’ lips against his, unable to believe that he got to do this again. Jason cleared his throat and Derek realised that the quick kiss had gone on longer than he’d originally planned, Derek felt Stiles grin against his lips and fought back his own grin as they finally broke apart.

“Go on then.” Derek grinned, letting go of Stiles’ hand and watching as the two of them headed to one of the back rooms to read through the script. 

Derek headed into the kitchen, rummaging through the fridge and pulling out the ingredients to start making tea. Jason appeared less than an hour later, looking at him sheepishly.

“Where’s Stiles?” Derek asked.

“Asleep.” Jason replied, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wear him out. We were just running through some lines and then he started to go to sleep, I didn’t want to wake him.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Derek offered, “He obviously needs it. I’m making tea, you hungry?” 

“Starving.” Jason grinned easily. 

By the time Derek had prepared tea the rest of the pack were all gathered in the kitchen, John headed into the back room to wake Stiles, who stumbled through into the kitchen, still half asleep, a dopey grin on his face when he looked across at Derek, who leaned in and kissed him quickly, nothing more than a brush of their lips, pulling away as he passed Stiles a plate of food, not missing the smiles on the packs faces. 

“So I guess this means you two are dating again?” John asked. Stiles was yawning widely, caught by surprise at his father’s question, his eyes going wide, glancing across at Derek almost nervously. 

“Yes.” Derek said firmly, making sure that Stiles could not doubt his intentions, he would not risk losing Stiles because of any miscommunication. Stiles grinned at him, looking at him with such love that Derek felt his heart stutter, considering the way that the wolves smirked at him he guessed they all heard it.

“That’s great guys, congratulations.” Scott said happily, as the rest of the pack congratulated them too before starting their tea.

“How are you feeling now?” Lydia asked as Stiles shovelled food into his mouth. 

“Better.” Stiles shrugged, “Less tired.”

“And your energy levels?” Allison asked.

“Getting there.” Stiles answered honestly, “I’m probably going to have a go at healing myself after tea.”

“You think you’re up to that?” Derek said, a little worried, he didn’t want Stiles to exhaust himself. 

“Yeah, don’t worry about me, got it totally covered.” Stiles said casually. 

“I do worry about you though.” Derek said, pressing a hand to Stiles’ shoulder, the concern evident in his eyes. Stiles softened slightly.

“I know. I know you do.” Stiles said seriously, “Derek, I believe you.” 

“Good.” Derek replied solemnly. “Don’t doubt it again, not ever.” He said, kissing Stiles gently. 

“From us either.” Isaac piped up and Stiles pulled away, blushing slightly, seemingly not remembering the rest of the pack in the room. “I mean, know that we care about you too, about what happens to you.” Isaac added and Stiles smiled in return. 

“I care about you guys too.” He said seriously, “I mean, if you ever hear me say anything like that again, that I don’t want to see you or I need time away or whatever, you have to know it’s not me. Okay?”

“Same goes for us.” Lydia replied, “If any of us tell you that you aren’t welcome here, or any of the hundreds of lies you must have heard, you have to know it isn’t us either.” The pack nodding in agreement.

“Okay.” Stiles grinned, “Sounds like a plan to me.” 

It didn’t take them long to finish tea, Stiles chattering away about some of his adventures he’d experienced in the past few months, although the thought of not being with Stiles when he faced down these creatures kind of terrified Derek, he was supposed to protect his mate, he didn’t feel he’d done a very good job of that so far, but he’d keep trying. He would show Stiles just how much he meant to him. 

As soon as they finished tea Stiles headed off to one of the back rooms to heal himself, Scott, Lydia and Allison all asked if they could watch, Stiles blushed slightly but nodded, giving Derek a quick kiss on the cheek before heading out of the kitchen. 

As curious as Derek was to see Stiles’ magic at work, he always loved watched Stiles work magic, he didn’t want to crowd him, he knew Stiles was still weary, that he was still recovering, he wanted to give him a little bit of space.

Instead Derek decided he’d go for a run, not very far, just out of the house for a little while, breathing in the scents of the forest, feeling such contentment that his pack was together again. 

He settled into an easy rhythm, his breathing even, his heart pounding steadily in his chest. He thought back over the past few weeks, over how much had changed, of Stiles being back in their home, everything felt right.

If Derek had been paying more attention to his surroundings, instead of basking in the happiness he felt, he probably would have noticed the scent of humans around him. Except he wasn’t, so he didn’t. 

One minute he was running peacefully, the next he was being slammed into the floor by an unseen force, his arm snapping under him, Derek managed to stop himself from howling in pain, but he still let out a small whimper. He tried to get to his feet but couldn’t, instead he had to watch uselessly as five hooded figures stepped out of the trees and approached him, one of them with their hand outstretched as if holding him in place. Derek knew instantly they were other casters, he felt the charm around his neck activate, warning the rest of the pack that he was hurt, one of the casters lowered his hood and smirked at the shield now surrounding Derek. 

The other four casters joined hands, started some kind of chant that Derek couldn’t understand and within two minutes the shield had collapsed. He tried to get to his feet but was still stuck in place, all he could was growl at them menacingly, all that earned him was several strong kicks to his face and body that left him gasping for breath, he was pretty sure that his leg and nose were both broken, possibly some of his ribs as well, but he wouldn’t be able to tell properly until he could move.

“Where’s the caster?” One of them asked and Derek glared at him. He would not give Stiles up, not ever. 

“Go to hell.” Derek spat, his words slurred slightly as he spat out blood. His statement was followed by several more kicks, he was pretty definite his ribs were broken now, before the caster that had held him in place flung her hand out forcing his body off the ground and smashing him into a nearby tree. 

“Tell us where the caster is and we’ll let you go.” The leader said, Derek gritted his teeth and refused to comment. He could see the complete and utter insanity in his eyes, this man was crazy, he would not let him anywhere near Stiles. “Tell me now dog and I’ll go easy on you.” 

When Derek refused to speak the man put his hand out in front of him, twisting it slightly and Derek felt a pain erupt in his stomach, he’d never felt such pain before, never in his life, it felt like his organs were melting, he screamed then, unable to stop himself, his voice cracking with the pain of it. 

“Tell me where the caster is and I’ll stop.” The leader threatened.

“I’m right here.” Stiles said stepping into the clearing. He still had bandages on his arms and across his hip, another plaster covering the rune above his heart, but he looked more energized than Derek had seen him recently. In fact, he looked ready for battle, despite the fact he was only in his jeans and shoes. 

The rest of the pack were right behind him, glaring at the casters with outright hatred, Stiles however, only had eyes for Derek. He’d felt the charm activate when Allison was just finishing off the bandages on his arms and he’d raced out of the house, the pack on his heels, terrified that Derek was badly hurt. He hadn’t expected to sense other magic users as they approached and he sure as hell hadn’t expected to see Derek pinned uselessly to a tree, blood covering his face, staining his clothes and hearing Derek cry out in pain. Well, that was the final straw, he had never been so ready to murder people in his life.

“Let go of him right now.” Stiles warned, the other casters just smirked at him, the leader even going as far as to twist his hand again, making Derek cry out in pain again, grinning at Stiles as he did so. 

The sky rumbled with thunder above them, lightning striking the ground nearby and the casters grinned.

“We’d heard you could do that.” The leader said. 

“I can do a lot more than that. Now let him go before you find out exactly what I’m capable of.” Stiles replied dangerously. 

“You think you could take all five of us?” The leader smirked.

“I really don’t think you want to find out. Let go of him. If you make me repeat myself again you really won’t like what happens next.” Stiles growled. 

Derek felt the magic leave his body, he was unable to hold himself upright and collapsed to the ground, his legs giving way, his ribs burning as he tried to take steadying breaths. 

“Derek?” Stiles asked in worry, about to take a step towards him despite his eyes never leaving the other casters, waiting for the moment they decided to attack.

“I’m fine.” Derek said through gritted teeth, attempting to get back to his feet and then deciding that he would probably just sit here for a little while. 

“We’re glad that we found you so easily.” The leader spoke into the silence, the tattoo on Stiles’ side was glowing silver and then Stiles was touching him, teleporting himself to Derek’s side and then gripping him tightly, there was a sudden pressure and Stiles teleported them both back to the safety of their pack. Derek couldn’t really think about how amazing that was right now, he hurt too much, although he could see the shock on the casters’ faces. Allison was touching his face, checking his injuries, the casters on the other side of the clearing, getting over their shock and squaring up to Stiles. “We had heard that you were supposed to be powerful, that much is obvious, although I have no doubt that you can’t take all of us.” 

“What do you want?” Stiles hissed angrily, “You have my attention now, that is not a good thing for you, so, tell me what you want.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” The leader said, “We’re here to get you to join our coven.” 

“Not a chance.” Scott growled, Stiles nodded in agreement. 

“I didn’t say it was optional. So, my turn for threats, come with us now and this pack of dogs doesn’t have to suffer, but if you fight us on this then they will suffer.”

The sky rumbled again, Stiles glaring at the casters with such hatred that Derek was sure they were about to burst into flames. He was terrified Stiles would sacrifice himself to protect them, he wasn’t going to let that happen. 

“No. Stiles, don’t.” He slurred, trying to get to his feet even as Allison pushed him back down, Stiles turned towards him, his gaze looking at Derek with such love that Derek wondered how he ever could have doubted how much Stiles cared for him.

“You do not threaten my pack, not now, not ever.” Stiles said, his tone quiet and deadly. Derek was scared, he wasn’t sure Stiles could take out the casters, not five of them, not when he was still hurt. If they fought, if they lost, the pack could die, Stiles could be taken from them. He wanted to fight, he wanted to get to his feet and protect his pack, his mate, as he was supposed to do, instead, although he could feel the wounds healing, he knew it wasn’t going to be quick enough. “I would give you the option to leave unharmed, but you hurt my alpha, you hurt my mate. You will pay for that.” 

“If that’s the way you want it, then what happens now is on your head.” The leader warned, throwing his hand forward, shoving the pack backwards and off their feet, hitting the ground hard. 

Stiles was ready for that move, as soon as the pack were pushed backwards he was throwing up a barrier separating them from the casters, determined to protect them. 

“Stiles!” Derek called out in a panic as the casters moved in to attack. Stiles didn’t look back at him, instead, the tattoo on his side started to glow silver and a moment later he disappeared. The casters had obviously not expected Stiles to be able to repeat this move again so soon, still slightly in shock when Stiles appeared behind one of the casters, throwing a spell at him that knocked him to the ground before teleporting again, knocking a second caster off their feet, easily dodging their spells.

The leader started screaming in frustration a few minutes later, slamming his hands into the ground and blasting the whole coven and Stiles off their feet, sending them flying backwards into the trees, Derek was sure he heard at least two necks break and four hearts stop beating. The leader stood up a moment later, grinning victoriously despite the fact he had murdered his own coven. 

“No!” Derek cried out in horror, sure that Stiles was hurt, that he was dead. “Stiles!” He screamed in terror, hearing the pack echo his sentiments.

When Stiles popped back into existence a moment later, panting slightly but otherwise seemingly unhurt, Derek felt like he could breathe again, however the leader let out another violent scream, this time aiming a blast of pure white light that Derek was sure was going to hit Stiles straight in the chest. Stiles threw out his own blast, this one a vibrant blue, that forced the blast of white backwards until the leader collapsed to the ground, evidently defeated. 

Stiles moved towards him, studying the other caster, it was obvious that he would not recover from his wounds. 

“You think this is over child?” The caster laughed, “I am only the first, they’ll come for you. They’ll take you. Your pack will die because of you.” He said, coughing on blood that spilled from his lips. “You will get them all killed.” He grinned before breathing his last breath, Stiles staring at him in shock and sorrow. 

“Stiles!” John called out in shock, running towards Stiles the instant the barrier dropped and assessing him for injuries. “Are you alright? Kid are you okay?” He asked in worry when Stiles was still silent. 

Derek felt his leg heal enough that he could get to his feet, limping towards Stiles, holding him tightly, Stiles looked exhausted, swaying slightly on his feet, Derek was pretty sure he was the only thing keeping Stiles upright.

“Stiles, are you okay?” 

“Am I?” Stiles scoffed, “Are you? You nearly died.” Stiles whispered, “You nearly died Derek and it was my fault.” 

“No.” Derek said, cupping Stiles’ cheek, “No. This wasn’t your fault Stiles.” 

“Didn’t you hear him?” Stiles replied, evidently in shock, “He said there would be more coming for me, that you’d all die. I can’t do that. I can’t watch you die. I need to leave.”

“No!” Derek said in denial, “No, no, you can’t Stiles. I won’t let you.” 

“It’s the only way to keep you safe.” Stiles explained. 

“I don’t care about being safe Stiles.” Derek pleaded, “I care about you, you can’t leave me, you can’t leave us.”

“And if someone worse comes along next time?” Stiles whispered, “If they’re stronger, more powerful, if they kill one of you? How do I deal with that?” 

“We won’t let that happen.” Erica said stubbornly, “We haven’t lost anyone yet, even when we didn’t know what the hell we were doing or what we were up against. We’ve always survived.”

“That won’t last forever.” Stiles said sorrowfully.

“If it does happen,” Derek said, “and that’s a big if Stiles, but if it happens, we’ll deal with it, the same way we deal with everything, together.” Stiles glanced up at him, finally meeting his eyes and Derek was sure he was finally reaching him, “We’re stronger together Stiles, you know that, you’ve told us that a thousand times, we’re stronger together Stiles, you have to believe that.” 

“If anything happens…” Stiles began.

“Then we’ll deal with it Stiles. You can’t leave us; I won’t let you. If that means I have to keep you as a prisoner in the house until you get this stupid idea out of your head, then that’s exactly what I’ll do.” Derek argued, glad when Stiles smiled slightly, his lips twitching, almost fighting back a laugh, before finally hugging Derek tightly and letting out a sob. 

“I almost lost you, I almost lost you Derek.” Stiles sobbed, “Please don’t do that to me again.”

“I won’t.” Derek replied, hugging him tightly, holding Stiles gently, refusing to let him go. “I promise Stiles, we’re together. No matter what.”

“Okay.” Stiles muttered into his shoulder, still holding him tightly, refusing to let go of Derek. It didn’t exactly surprise Derek when a few moments later Stiles fell asleep, he must have been exhausted. Derek knew he’d used too much energy, that he was still healing, he sure as hell wasn’t supposed to be fighting, or teleporting. 

Boyd picked up the sleeping Stiles, Scott helping Derek to his feet, making their way back to the house slowly. Derek headed to the bathroom, washing the blood off, thanking god that he had healing powers as he ran his hands over the now healed broken bones. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have to heal at human speed. 

The pack was all gathered in the living room, Stiles sprawled on the couch, his feet resting in Lydia’s lap, his dad stroking his hair soothingly. 

“How’s he doing?” Derek asked as he walked in, rubbing a towel over his hair to dry it a bit quicker, looking at his resting pack. 

“He’s alright.” John said wearily, “Just tired, as we all expected really. It’s been a long day. For all of us.”

“We should probably think about going to bed.” Lydia advised, “It’s been a long few weeks, we’re all tired, most of us have classes or work tomorrow. It would be a good idea to get some rest.”

“I think that’s a great idea.” Jason agreed, already getting up and heading for his bedroom. “See you guys in the morning.” Soon the rest of the pack followed, all going to their own bedrooms, until Derek was left with the sleeping Stiles. Whereas the previous week Derek left Stiles asleep on the sofa, this time he picked him up gently, carrying him into their room and laying him on the bed, pulling the covers over him before climbing in next to him and snuggling up to him, slipping easily into sleep feeling the press of Stiles’ body next to his.

He woke up the next morning to see Stiles’ sleeping face next to his and couldn’t help the grin on his lips. 

“Stop grinning like an idiot.” Stiles muttered sleepily without opening his eyes and Derek’s grin stretched wider. Stiles sighed and rolled on to his side, snuggling into Derek’s chest, wrapping his legs over Derek’s and smirking despite still not opening his eyes. 

“Morning to you too.” Derek smiled, kissing Stiles softly on the lips, surprised when Stiles kissed him back, opening his mouth slowly to allow Derek to deepen the kiss. Derek moaning with delight as Stiles slid his tongue into Derek’s mouth. 

Derek broke the kiss, panting for breath, a few minutes later. He was half lying on top of Stiles by now, identical grins on their faces, cheeks flushed with arousal. 

“I wouldn’t mind waking up like that every morning.” Stiles grinned. 

“I think I might agree with you on that one.” Derek replied, leaning in for another kiss. They could have spent all day in bed, except for the fact that there was work to be done, and Derek could hear the pack already up and about. 

“So what is the plan for today?” Stiles asked, yawning widely as Derek sat up, throwing back the covers to get to his feet.

“Well, I think you should probably rest for the day, you’re back to work tomorrow, you should take it easy today, then you’ll feel okay for tomorrow.”

“I feel okay now.” Stiles laughed, fighting back another yawn.

“Sure, you look wide awake.” Derek teased. 

“I’m sure you can find a way to wake me up.” Stiles replied, stretching lazily, Derek admiring the view. 

“Yeah I’m pretty sure I could.” Derek grinned. “But then we would get nothing achieved today.”

“I wouldn’t say nothing.” Stiles replied cheekily, “But if you are so sure whatever you are planning on doing is more important then...” Derek pounced back onto the bed, landing lightly on top of Stiles, caging him in his arms.

“Nothing is more important to me than you.” Derek said seriously while Stiles laughed lightly. 

“Me too.” Stiles replied, leaning up to kiss Derek slowly, gently, teasingly. Derek was achingly hard and he could feel the evidence that Stiles was enjoying it just as much. He couldn’t help but grind their hips together, hearing Stiles groan with pleasure and grinning widely. He wanted to go further, wanted to keep touching Stiles, feel his bare skin under his fingertips, but he couldn’t, not yet, they’d only just got back together, he didn’t want to push things.

Instead he pulled away, Stiles looking at him in confusion.

“Are you not enjoying yourself?” Stiles asked, looking a little worried. 

“Yeah, of course I am.” Derek answered honestly. “I just don’t want to rush things, we’ve only just got back together, I’m not pushing for us to do anything that you’re not ready for, and I sure as hell don’t want you thinking that just because we’re back together that we need to have sex straightaway, you don’t need to do that for me. I’m happy waiting until you’re ready.”

“I wasn’t thinking that.” Stiles mumbled, “I mean, I’d like to have sex with you, I think we’d both enjoy that, a lot,” Stiles blushed, “But I wasn’t wanting to do it to prove anything or anything like that, I just, I was enjoying myself, I thought you were too.”

“Of course I was enjoying myself. I just, I love you Stiles, I don’t want to mess this up.” 

“I love you too.” Stiles grinned easily, “And you aren’t going to mess this up, mess us up. We’ve messed about enough, we’re due straight forward times now, right?” Stiles smiled.

“If only life was fair.” Derek smirked, “But, yeah, I think we deserve things to go our way from now on.” 

“Anyway,” Stiles said throwing back the sheets and getting out of the bed, “I was thinking of heading into work today, go in with Jason, go through the script and everything.”

“You sure you’re up to that?” Derek said, a bit worriedly.

“Yeah, definitely, don’t worry about me, I’ve totally got this.” Stiles grinned, Derek leaned in and kissed him quickly before they pulled apart to get dressed. 

Jason grinned happily when Stiles appeared down the stairs and said he was going into work today. 

“Can we teleport?” Jason asked easily and Stiles sighed.

“Maybe not today, I’m still building up my power again, give me a couple of days?”

“Sure thing.” Jason grinned, hopping up from the table, handing Stiles several slices of toast and pulling him towards the front door, “Come on we’ve got to get going.” 

Stiles grabbed a cup of coffee out of Scott’s hands, kissed Derek quickly as Jason dragged him towards the door, a goofy grin on his lips, shoving a piece of toast into his mouth and then disappearing out of the door. 

Derek started his shift at ten, spending most of his day doing paperwork and thinking about Stiles, about the fact he was home, that they were back together, he couldn’t help the small grin on his lips whenever he thought about Stiles, about the way they’d kissed last night, this morning, the way Stiles’ body had felt against his, it felt safe, it felt right, it felt like home. 

He caught John grinning at him at least a few times that day, no doubt just happy to see both Stiles and Derek happy. He used those moments to rid all thoughts of Stiles from his mind and focus on the paperwork that needed doing. 

Stiles and Jason both got home later than everyone else, both looking tired but happy. Lydia had been watching the news, apparently annoyed when the real news was delayed to talk about how Stiles was back at work, even showing pictures of both Stiles and Jason heading into the studio and leaving that evening, both laughing at something the other had said. 

“I mean, I don’t get what the fuss is about?” Lydia said as Jason sat down next to her and Stiles headed into the kitchen to grab them a drink. 

“I don’t get it either Lyds.” Stiles called from the kitchen. “I mean it’s only us going into work.”

“People want to know you’re back at work Stiles!” Jason called back as Stiles appeared in the doorway and threw him a bottle of water. 

“Well, now they know, time to move on. Not spend another twenty minutes talking about it.” He sighed.

“Changing the subject slightly,” Scott said as he came down the stairs, “Spiderman comes out next week, you want to go see it?” 

“Stiles will be going to the premier.” Jason replied before glancing at Stiles, “Or maybe not.” 

“I don’t think I can really be bothered with all that just now, maybe we could all go next weekend? Go catch it at the cinema? If you really want to go watch it? Although I’m a little worried I’m going to be crap in it.”

“You wouldn’t be crap in anything.” Isaac grinned, “You’re a very talented actor Stiles. You’ll be amazing.” Stiles blushed brightly, glad when Allison and Erica both came through the front door, he hoped it meant they would change the subject.

“Stiles,” Erica frowned, “Ed is at the bottom of the lane, there’s a few reporters there. He’s drunk. He’s demanding to speak to you. Want me to get rid of him?” Stiles frowned, what the hell was Ed doing there? He hadn’t been there a few minutes ago.

“I’ll sort it. Although, could one of you call Derek and tell him? He’s due back anytime, I don’t want him to see Ed and go all Alpha crazy.”

“I’m on it.” Allison said as Stiles headed out of the house. He jogged down the lane, not really surprised when he could hear Ed shouting a few minutes later. As he rounded the last corner he saw several cameras already filming Ed who was ranting and raving, red in the face and pacing angrily up and down the end of the drive. 

As soon as Stiles approached them the cameras all turned to him, Ed turned and saw Stiles, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth angrily, Stiles wondered what the hell had happened to him, he’d never seen Ed look quite so unhinged before. 

“Here he is, Saint Stilinski!” Ed shouted to the cameras, “The man who can do no wrong!” 

“Ed.” Stiles said calmly in greeting, trying not to gag at the stench of alcohol coming from Ed, “What are you doing here?” Stiles asked, ignoring the cameras, looking directly at Ed.

“What am I doing here!?” Ed spat outraged. “I’m here because you ruined my life!” 

“What?” Stiles said in confusion. 

“You, it’s you, it’s always bloody you! You know I figured it out! I should have figured it out months ago. Hell, I should have figured it out back when we were filming! You made me look like a fucking idiot, I’m not.”

“Ed, I honestly have no idea what you’re on about.” Stiles paused, glancing at the cameras, recording every word, “Look, come up to house, we can sit down, talk, figure out what’s going on.”

“You see!” Ed screamed to the cameras, “You see what he’s doing!? He’s making out I’m the bad guy, I’m not! He’s the one who’s all kinds of messed up!”

“Ed, this really isn’t the place, you have a problem with me, okay, we’ll deal with it privately. So let’s go talk.” Stiles offered reasonably.

“No. I don’t want to do this privately; I want the world to see what you really are.” Ed hissed angrily, before turning and smiling at the cameras, slinging an arm around Stiles’ shoulder, swaying steadily, Stiles trying very hard not to show the disgust he felt at Ed touching him, “You see, I didn’t realise, I mean, I was putting on a show, pretending that we were dating, but I didn’t realise, I didn’t know, I was the reason Derek and Stiles broke up, because I didn’t realise that you are in love with me, I should have realised it then, that’s why you were always so polite to me, because you are in love with me, like even now, you’re giving me those eyes, telling me you’re in love with me, I should have realised it then.” 

Stiles stared at him in stunned shock before he could regain the ability to speak. 

“What!?” He spluttered, glad to see Derek and his dad both pulling up in their cars. 

“I mean, I don’t really like you, like at all,” Ed rambled, “You are way too much of a nice guy for me, I like my guys with something about them, you know a bit of an edge, not someone quite so boring as you, but hey, I’m willing to take one for the team if it gets me back in Joe’s good books.” He slurred, pulling Stiles towards him, obviously going for a kiss. 

Stiles shoved him in the chest, pushing him away, not caring when Ed stumbled over and landed on the ground. 

“What the hell man!?” Stiles said in shock, glad when both Derek and his dad pushed through the cameras towards Stiles. John trying to stop the reporters from moving any further forwards as Derek rushed to check on Stiles.

“You okay?” Derek said, instantly checking Stiles for any injuries. 

“I’m fine.” Stiles mumbled, taking comfort in the touch of Derek’s hand on his cheek. “He’s off his head, I don’t know if it’s drink or drugs or what, but he’s completely lost it. Derek, he thinks I’m in love with him?” He whispered quietly, so that the cameras couldn’t hear him. Derek inhaled quickly before wrinkling his nose delicately, Stiles couldn’t help but think it was kind of adorable.

“Both drink and drugs.” Derek muttered, he wasn’t going to tell Stiles that Ed also stank of arousal and anger, whereas Stiles only smelled of confusion and love, solely directed at Derek.

“Oh right, now you’ve got your precious dad and wonderful Derek to protect you. I suppose you need them, you sure as hell aren’t capable of defending yourself. Or did you think we’d all forgotten about that tape!? Or maybe that’s just the kind of thing you like. Maybe if I was a bit rougher with you you’d actually lighten up a bit, in fact, the fact that you got raped is probably the least boring thing about you.” Ed jeered as he got up from the floor. Derek heard the intakes of breath from the reporters, saw John turn towards Ed, face tight with anger, saw Stiles go as white as a sheet, the sky darkening rapidly, thunder rumbling high above them. 

Derek couldn’t deal with all that though, all he could think about was this absolute bastard had upset Stiles, had threatened to rough him up, had joked about the fact Stiles had suffered immeasurably. He couldn’t and wouldn’t let that slide. The blood was pounding in his ears, his sight taking on a hint of red, Derek knew he was close to losing control, close to letting his wolf tear this man apart, but he couldn’t do that, not here, not now. Instead he’d settle for human violence.

Before anyone could react he was turning around, pouncing on Ed, knocking him to the ground, feeling a sick sense of satisfaction as he felt Ed’s nose break easily under his fist, but it wasn’t enough, he needed to pay, he needed to suffer.

“Derek!” Stiles was shouting, grabbing hold of his arm and stopping it in as it was about to connect with Ed’s face again, “Stop. Enough.” Stiles said gently, running his hand up Derek’s arm until he could cup his cheek, “Enough. It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay.” Derek growled, fighting the urge to go full wolf and tear Ed apart.

“You honestly think I give a shit what he says or thinks?” Stiles asked, looking at Ed with disgust, “I don’t care. He can say whatever he wants Derek, I don’t care. What I do care about is you getting arrested for almost beating a man to death. So stop it, he’s not worth that. Okay?”

“Fine.” Derek snarled, climbing off Ed and gripping tightly to Stiles’ hand, the only thing keeping him in control right now. 

“You too dad.” Stiles sighed, Derek turned to see John staring at Ed with such loathing that he wouldn’t be surprised if John killed him himself or at least found something to charge with Ed with and locked him up for as long as possible. 

“Fine.” John sighed heavily. 

“Let’s just go home alright?” Stiles muttered.

“Yeah, you run off home Stiles.” Ed hissed, the broken nose seemed to have sobered him up slightly, his voice now slurring because of the blood running from his nose. He got to his feet unsteadily, glaring at Stiles with hatred, “Wouldn’t want you to worry about getting into trouble! Precious little Stiles, good job you’ve got your guard dog to defend you, otherwise I’d kick the shit out of you. I mean, he must have some uses mustn’t he? I mean, he’s good looking enough, but not too bright is he? So what do you use him for? Other than protecting you? Maybe you just keep him around to make yourself feel smarter. Or maybe just for the sex. I imagine he’d be pretty extraordinary; I wouldn’t mind finding out. Maybe he likes it rough too.” 

Stiles stopped in his tracks, Derek glancing at him with worry, before Stiles strode back towards Ed punching him squarely in the ribs, Derek heard them crack, following up with a fist to the jaw, knocking Ed sideways and to the ground. Stiles glaring at him with outright hatred as Ed looked up at him in disbelief, unable to contemplate that Stiles had hit him.

“Don’t you fucking dare speak about him like that. Derek is a thousand times the man you could ever be, and he doesn’t need to pretend to date me to make himself more famous. He doesn’t care about things like that. He cares about me. He gets to date me because I fucking love him and he loves me and we are happy together, so why don’t you get the fuck off our property, get yourself to a hospital where they can attempt to pump the drink and drugs out of your system and maybe fix your nose, if you are lucky. Then, once you’re all better, do you know what you can do? You can go to hell!” Stiles snarled before striding back towards Derek, taking his hand and marching back towards the house, checking John was still with them and hadn’t stayed behind. 

“Well, that was intense.” Jackson said as soon as they entered the house, they looked at him in confusion before he motioned to the television where the reporters were showing Ed stumbling down the road, still muttering about Saint Stilinski and how he was going to make him pay for making him look like an idiot. 

“It’s pretty official that you guys are back together now by the way.” Isaac informed them, the news already circulating that Stiles had said they were together. 

Stiles sighed wearily, massaging his temples, a sure sign of stress. Derek pulled him into a hug, holding him gently until Stiles relaxed against him.

“What a jackass.” Stiles muttered murderously.

“His career is done anyway.” Jason replied and the pack all turned to look at him, waiting for a further explanation, “You guys all seem to forget that I’ve been in this business quite a few years, I know what makes and breaks careers, believe me, his career is done. No-one would be able to come back from that, he basically threatened to rape Stiles and then Derek. Trust me, he’s not wrong about Stiles basically being a saint, everyone loves him, he’s a talented actor, funny, smart, a nice guy, doesn’t take himself too seriously, hardworking, I could go on but I don’t want him to go getting a big head.” Stiles grinned at him, “The point is, everyone wants to work with Stiles, every director or producer wants you on their books. Not a chance in hell would they risk casting Ed if on the slimmest chance it would mean that you wouldn’t work with them.” 

“I really don’t think…” Stiles started but Jason held up a hand to stop him.

“If a guy starts filming a television show, he casts parts, he decides to give Ed a shot, three series later, somehow Ed is still on the show without fucking up too badly, it gets reasonable ratings, your contract is up or our show has finished or whatever, you are free, looking for a new show, this director knows if he gets you the ratings will go through the roof but he also knows about the issues between you and Ed. He’s got four choices, one, get rid of Ed, that might piss off his current fans, so he wouldn’t want to do that, two, don’t offer you the job at all but that means his show is never going to be as high on the ratings as he’d want it to be, or three get the two of you to work together, you could possibly maintain the professional relationship, but you wouldn’t be happy, you probably wouldn’t stay long, especially if Ed is still a complete and utter moron. Which brings us to point four, which is to not hire Ed in the first place, to find another actor who is just as, if not more, talented, who you don’t know and would be more willing to work with. Hence, his career is over. Not to mention that the press are going to tear him apart for what he threatened to do.”

“People don’t actually think like that.” Stiles said a moment later, “Do they?”

“Yes.” Jason answered simply.

“But I hit him, Derek hit him too, won’t the press go crazy over that?” Stiles asked.

“Not a chance.” Jason grinned, “You were defending each other, they’ll love that. Derek went after him because he threatened you, you went after him when he threatened Derek. There might be one or two that will say it wasn’t necessary to hit him, but, overall, the guy threatened to and I quote, ‘get rough with you’ as he suggested the same with Derek. Most people will say you didn’t do enough, that he still got up and walked away, that you should have cut off his balls or something, I mean, those are the extremists, but still, I’m more than willing to bet he’ll have at least a few death threats. If he’s got any sense he’ll keep out of the public eye for a long time at the very least.”

“You guys were pretty cute.” Lydia agreed, “Both defending each other not yourselves. I think Jason is probably right, you don’t need to worry about Ed, at least for a little while.”

“Good.” Derek said sinking into the nearby chair, pulling Stiles with him so he could still have the contact, Stiles didn’t argue, instead practically sitting on Derek’s lap and resting his head on his shoulder. “If I see him again I don’t think I’ll be able to stop myself from killing him.” 

“You would. You’ve got more control than you give yourself credit for.” John insisted, “You didn’t kill him today and you easily could have done, I would have trouble selling the animal attack if you’d done it in front of the cameras thought.”

“So, are we going to go watch Spiderman in the cinema next weekend? We should probably book tickets? Otherwise it’ll be sold out.” Erica grinned. 

“Aren’t you going to the premiere?” Derek quizzed Stiles who shook his head slowly. 

“Nah, I don’t want to deal with all that, besides Ed will probably be there and I’m sure as hell not dealing with him anytime soon.” 

“Fair enough,” Derek agreed, “Although, if you want to go, don’t not go because of that idiot, I’ll come with you if you like?”

“I don’t want to go because I want to spend time with you guys, because I don’t want to leave town again so soon and if I’m going to watch it, I’m watching it with you guys.” Stiles answered honestly, snuggling closer to Derek. 

“Awesome,” Scott said excitedly, “I’ll book the tickets now.” 

“Here.” Derek said, passing him his card, he couldn’t think of a better way to spend some of his money than on his pack. 

By the next weekend they were all excited to see Spiderman, except for Stiles who looked a little nervous. They’d all been working hard all week and were looking forward to seeing the film together, Jason had predicted correctly, the press had torn Ed apart, glad to see that Derek and Stiles had both defended each other against horrible threats. When Stiles had been stopped by a reporter mid-week as he left the studio he’d stated that he hoped Ed made a full recovery, that he deeply regretted letting his anger get the better of him and that Ed obviously had his own demons to deal with and that Stiles hoped he conquered them. Stiles had blushed brightly when he saw he report later that day, basically making out that Stiles was perfect, he didn’t think that, he just thought he was an ordinary guy, but at least he’d apologised for how he’d behaved, he hoped people accepted that, although no-one seemed to think he needed to apologise.

They arrived at the cinema, printed out their tickets and waited in line to get in. Stiles was laughing and joking with Scott, an arm around Derek’s waist, Derek’s around his shoulders, inhaling the happiness that Stiles was emitting, making Derek almost glow with pride. No-one seemed to notice them, at least not before the film, all of the crowds too busy discussing what they thought was going to happen to notice that Stiles was right there. Derek loved the film, he especially loved Stiles in those glasses, he was going to have to tell him how incredibly hot they made him look. The wolves around them rolled their eyes, obviously able to smell his arousal while Stiles just grinned at him.

“I’m sure I’ve still got a pair somewhere.” He whispered into Derek’s ear, eliciting a groan from Scott and Erica sat on the opposite sides of them as Stiles grinned cheekily at him. 

The film was amazing, everyone was chatting about how incredible it was as they exited the cinema, congratulating Stiles on his performance. It was then that people began to notice them. It started with a few people nearby whispering and pointing at Stiles, then louder murmurs, before eventually people were practically screaming his name and begging for autographs. 

Stiles looked stunned by the reactions, as if unable to believe everyone would be so happy to meet him. Derek grinned happily seeing the complete surprise on Stiles’ face as he signed various autographs and took what must have been hundreds of photos with members of the crowd.

“Dude,” Jackson said loudly, “Weren’t we going to get tea?” 

“Oh, yeah, sorry.” Stiles said blushing, signing a few more autographs as he tried to move away from the crowd who only seemed to be following him, “Sorry guys, I’ve got to go.” He said, moving closer to Derek, the crowd pressing in around them. Stiles was starting to feel a little claustrophobic.

“Guys!” Jason shouted loudly, gaining their attention, “Stiles has been signing autographs for an hour, I know you all want one, but I’m starving, as I’m sure Stiles is too, so unless you want him to start getting all moody because he hasn’t eaten in the past two hours I seriously suggest that we call it a night.”

“I don’t get pissy after two hours without food.” Stiles muttered under his breath, Jason just grinned at him widely.

“Now, if you’ll excuse us.” Jason said, taking Stiles by the elbow and steering him and the rest of the pack towards the back of the cinema. “Dude, you really need to realise just how famous you are, it’s like you don’t even know your star quality.” 

“My what?” Stiles said scrunching up his nose in confusion, Jason sighed in exasperation.

“I give up.” He sighed sarcastically, “Point is Stiles, you’re famous, get used to it. Now, are we going for tea or not because I am starving.” 

“Let’s go.” Scott said quickly, glancing over his shoulder, Stiles glanced backwards too, seeing the crowd coming towards them again.

“Yep. Let’s go now.” Stiles said, practically pushing the rest of them out of the door. “In future I’m coming out in disguise.” He sighed as they headed to the restaurant. Derek stopped him as they got closer to the restaurant, waving for the rest of them to go ahead. 

He pulled Stiles slightly down a side street, making sure that no-one would see them, that they could have two minutes to talk privately. 

“You were brilliant. I just wanted to tell you that. You were amazing.” Derek said, cupping Stiles’ cheek softly and leaning in to kiss him. 

“I think you liked the glasses too.” Stiles grinned at him, kissing him back easily. Their lips brushing against each other before parting and allowing entrance of seeking tongues. Derek took a few steps forwards, backing Stiles against the wall of the alley, deepening the kiss, Stiles moaning into his mouth as Derek ground his hips against him. Stiles jumped up, surprising him slightly, and wrapped his legs around Derek’s waist, Derek pulled Stiles closer, his hands on his ass, holding him as close as possible as Stiles licked and teased at his mouth, Derek groaning at the incredible sensations. 

“So, you want to head into the restaurant?” Stiles asked a few minutes later, “Or do you fancy spending some quality time at home without the pack?” He grinned. Derek nodded numbly, he couldn’t think straight, he felt dizzy from the feel of Stiles against him. “That’s yes you want to go home?” Stiles smiled.

“Yes.” Derek said, almost in a growl, he couldn’t think of anything right now other than kissing Stiles. “Yes, home, now.” He growled, Stiles laughing slightly into his neck. 

“Hold tight.” Stiles whispered and before Derek could think of how he could possibly hold Stiles any tighter there was a sudden pressure and they were falling onto their bed, Derek landing on top of Stiles, Stiles laughing as they hit the bed, quickly silenced by Derek’s mouth on his.

Stiles reached up, pulling Derek’s shirt off over his head, breaking their kisses for only a moment, running his hands over Derek’s skin, digging his nails in only slightly and making Derek groan with pleasure, fighting the urge to just rip Stiles’ shirt off, instead, pulling it gently over Stiles’ head, kissing him slowly, gently, running his hands over the scars on his skin, moving to kiss each and every one of them, Stiles looking at him in confusion for a moment before Derek started to suck dark marks all over his chest and neck and Stiles whimpered with pleasure, his eyes closing slightly as he fought back a groan. 

Stiles reached down, unbuttoning Derek’s jeans and starting to slide them down his hips, grinning widely when he realised that Derek hadn’t been wearing any boxers, Derek blushing slightly before Stiles pulled him in for another kiss. 

Derek may have ripped Stiles’ jeans ever so slightly when he undid them, he didn’t mean to but he was having a few issues with keeping himself under control, especially when Stiles just laughed at him and motioned for him to continue, Derek had to take several deep breaths before he could actually undo Stiles’ jeans not exactly helped by Stiles’ nibbling lightly at his neck and reaching down to stroke at Derek’s throbbing cock. 

“Jesus.” He panted, unable to believe how good it felt, he had to take a few more steadying breaths before he could finally get Stiles’ jeans undone, pulling his boxers off at the same time, his eyes flashing red for a moment at the sight of the naked Stiles beneath him. 

“You’ve stopped.” Stiles pouted a moment later, blushing slightly as Derek continued to stare at him.

“Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?” Derek said a moment later, leaning in and kissing Stiles again, aligning their bodies so their cocks rubbed against each other, Stiles letting out a loud groan of pleasure, his eyelids fluttering shut, it was Derek’s turn to grin, he moved again, the friction making his cock throb, he didn’t think he’d be able to last much longer the way things were going, they should probably slow down a little bit he thought. Pulling away from Stiles’ mouth, kissing down his chest, grinning slightly as he kissed the marks he’d left there earlier, he liked seeing Stiles wearing his mark, he moved further down, licking at Stiles’ cock for a moment before finally taking it in his mouth, Stiles clutching tightly at the sheets as he fought back a moan.

“Derek,” Stiles whispered, sounding desperate, “Derek, Jesus.” He muttered, he’d never imagined it would feel this good, he was struggling not to come already. He couldn’t. He had to hold out a little longer at least. 

Derek grinned at him a few minutes later, when all Stiles could mutter was a repetition of “Derek” and “God” and “Please”. 

“Was that alright?” Derek asked, almost nervously while Stiles nodded at him stunned, unable to comprehend that Derek could ever doubt his skills. 

“Amazing.” Stiles smiled, “Would you mind if I tried?” He asked, feeling a bit nervous but smiling when he saw Derek’s cock twitch at the thought. “I’ll take that as a yes then.” Stiles grinned, pushing Derek backwards on the bed so he was lying down. He kissed Derek slowly, biting at his lip, loving the growl it got, he probably shouldn’t admit that seeing Derek’s eyes flash red for a moment turned him on incredibly. 

He moved down his chest, kissing every spot he could reach, before finally reaching his cock, Stiles was a little nervous, mainly because he’d never given a blowjob before and he was pretty sure he was going to be shit at it, but he decided to follow Derek’s example, firstly licking up his shaft, loving when Derek moaned, gripping the sheets in his hands. When he reached the tip he opened his mouth, taking Derek’s cock slowly into his mouth, swirling his tongue slightly, obviously hitting a sensitive spot as Derek’s claws suddenly sprouted from his fingers, tearing into the sheet, Stiles grinned, flicking his tongue over that spot again, feeling Derek writhing under him, hear him panting Stiles’ name. It felt incredible. 

“Jesus Stiles.” Derek almost howled a few minutes later, Stiles could taste the salty pre-come on his tongue, he knew Derek was close to losing it. He wanted him too, but he also wanted to have sex, so he slowly pulled way, giving Derek’s cock one last lick before grinning at Derek who was looking at Stiles with a stunned expression. 

“I’m guessing you liked that then?” He teased. Derek surprising him slightly when he sat up, pulling Stiles onto his lap, kissing him softly and gently, still nibbling at his lip and neck. Stiles could feel Derek’s hard cock digging into him as he sat on his lap, his own resting against Derek’s stomach.

“I loved it.” Derek muttered in between kisses, “I love you.” 

“I love you too.” Stiles said, wriggling slightly so that he could feel Derek’s cock pressing against his ass. 

“Wait.” Derek said and Stiles looked at him in confusion, “I just mean, we should probably,” He kissed Stiles again, “If you want to, I mean,” He rambled, “before we go any further, we should open you up a little bit first?” He asked nervously.

“Okay.” Stiles agreed easily, he was new to this, he’d trust Derek’s judgement. 

“Alright, lie down on your back.” Derek said, lowering Stiles to the bed, hovering half over him, kissing him, stroking at his cock. “Okay, I’m going to move my fingers to your ass okay? If you want me to stop, or you aren’t comfortable or anything, just tell me?” 

“I will.” Stiles said firmly, wanting Derek to get on with it already, still kissing him, still stroking his cock, finding that sensitive spot again and running his finger over it, loving how it made Derek shudder with pleasure. 

Derek massaged Stiles’ hole, slowly working his way in with one finger, trying not to come all over Stiles’ hand as the sensation almost blew him away. Stiles was so tight and hot, he wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to hold out. They were both covered in a sheen of sweat, panting desperately before Derek finally thought Stiles was ready for him. 

“You’re sure?” He said as he pressed his cock against Stiles’ entrance.

“Yes, God, please, Derek, yes.” Stiles practically begged, his nails digging into Derek’s back as Derek pressed forwards, working his way slowly into Stiles. 

Stiles gasping his name in pleasure, Derek trying not to lose control completely at how completely and utterly amazing this felt, how amazing Stiles felt. 

He spent the next few minutes just taking his time, adjusting to the tightness of Stiles, giving Stiles a chance to adjust his size. Both of them panting, smiles on their faces, bodies glistening with sweat as Stiles encouraged him to move.

He started to move, slowly at first, kissing Stiles slowly and sweetly, broken by groans of pleasure, smiles of joy and whispered declarations of love. Derek moved a bit faster with Stiles’ encouragement, sure he wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer, the feeling was incredible and the fact it was Stiles, well, that just made it even more amazing. 

“Derek, please.” Stiles begged, panting his name, so close to coming that he could barely think straight. “Oh my god, Derek, Jesus, please, oh god.” Stiles rambled, not sure of what he was saying but sure he was so close to the edge, that he couldn’t hold off any longer. “Derek…” Stiles cried out starting to cum. 

Derek was overwhelmed by the sensations; sure he was going to come almost the instant he was inside Stiles, he could barely process it, barely keep control, his eyes flashing more red than green, Stiles moaning in pleasure as Derek moved inside him, hearing Stiles beg him and then call his name as he started to cum, well, that was enough to send Derek over the edge as Stiles clenched around him, calling out Stiles’ name as he came. 

They lay together afterwards, trying to catch their breaths, grinning happily at each other, Stiles leaning up and pulling Derek down for a kiss, pressing their lips together, it was sweet and tender and a little messy, completely and utterly perfect. 

“I love you.” Stiles whispered against his lips.

“I love you too.” Derek grinned. 

“This was fun.” Stiles laughed.

“Which means you’d like to do it again sometime?” Derek teased.

“Sometime as is as soon as possible.” Stiles grinned, laughing lightly, clenching around Derek as he laughed, causing Derek to moan with the sensation. Stiles noticed instantly, laughing again, almost purposefully teasing Derek, Derek could feel his cock twitching back into life, no doubt Stiles could feel it too if the way he smiled and kissed Derek was any indication. 

“We might have to wait a little while.” Derek moaned as he heard the door open downstairs. 

“You guys bailed on tea to have sex!?” Jason shouted loudly, Stiles bursting into laughter, Derek groaning at the sensation. “Unbelievable!” Jason shouted again and Derek grinned at Stiles lightly. 

“You remember when you lived with Jason?” Derek asked and Stiles looked at him in confusion but nodded, “You remember when you told me that you had to listen to him have sex over and overs with random people?” 

“Erm, yeah?” Stiles said, still confused.

“You think it’s time to return the favour?” Derek grinned wickedly, Stiles finally catching up with what Derek was suggesting.

“Oh god no!” Jason shouted from downstairs, loud enough that Stiles could hear him clearly. 

“I think he might explode.” Stiles muttered, kissing Derek easily. “But that’s what soundproofing spells are for, right?” He grinned.

“Definitely.” Derek replied quickly as Stiles cast the spell. 

They spent the next few hours wrapped up in each other before finally deciding to head downstairs to get something to eat, stumbling into the kitchen, grabbing food from the fridge and heading into the front room to join the rest of the pack. 

“You two done?” Lydia said raising an eyebrow.

“For now.” Stiles hummed happily, scoffing down some toast. 

“Just make sure you keep up the soundproofing I do not want to have to listen to my Alpha having sex with my best friend.” Scott whined.

“Like we haven’t had to listen to you a million times.” Jackson complained.

“How about I just soundproof all the bedrooms, would that make everyone’s lives easier?” Stiles suggested, propping his feet on Derek’s lap.

“I think that is a brilliant idea.” Lydia agreed. Stiles closed his eyes in concentration for a few minutes before sighing.

“Alright, all done.” He said, “Which means,” He grinned cheekily at Derek, “We can spend as much time upstairs as we like without interruptions.”

Derek laughed lightly, he loved Stiles, more than he could ever express.

“Please don’t ever leave again.” Derek muttered, surprised he’d said it out loud, Stiles looking at him with a stunned expression, before climbing onto his lap and holding him tenderly. 

“No. Never. I promise Derek. I’m never leaving you again.” Stiles whispered, tears in his eyes. “I promise, never again. I wouldn’t survive leaving you again.” He held Derek tightly, wrapping himself around him as tightly as he could, using his physical presence to try and reassure Derek that he was here and that he wouldn’t be going anywhere. 

“I know, I wouldn’t either.” Derek replied, snuggling into Stiles’ shoulder, glad to have the reassurance from Stiles. 

It was at that moment that Stiles’ phone decided to ring and Stiles kept his grip on Derek as he fished his phone from his jeans.

“Hello?”

“Stiles, it’s Jack.”

“Jack? What’s up?” Stiles asked in confusion.

“We’ve got a problem. There’s a demon, it’s got us pinned down, I can’t get Ella out of here, she’s unconscious.” Jack said, sounding panicked.

“Tell me where you are.” Stiles said sounding serious. 

“Warehouse seventeen, industrial estate five, north street, Detroit.” 

“I’m coming.” Stiles said jumping up from the sofa, the tattoo already starting to glow silver under his shirt. “I’m coming back.” He said to Derek, kissing him quickly, “I’ll be back soon, I love you.”

“Love you too.” Derek said as Stiles smiled at him before vanishing. 

Derek spent the next thirty minutes pacing across the floor, the rest of the pack waiting for him to sit back down, he couldn’t, not until Stiles was back. John appeared after about twenty minutes, thankfully he’d had a few errands to run after the film and before coming across to the house, although Derek was sure he wouldn’t mind Stiles and Derek having sex, he didn’t think the man would want it rubbing in his face. 

“Where’s Stiles?” John asked, taking in Derek’s pacing. “Is he alright?” 

“Jack and Ella were in trouble; he went to go help them.” Scott explained. “But he’ll be back, anytime now I’m sure.”

A moment later there was a loud bang from downstairs and when Derek rushed down to the basement he found Jack supporting Ella, stumbling through the portal. He had a large gash on the side of his head and Ella was completely out of it. 

“Where’s Stiles?” Derek asked in worry when the portal sealed behind them.

“He’s on his way.” Jack whispered, “He said he didn’t have the energy to transport all three of us. He sent us through a portal. He should be here any second.” The instant Jack finished his sentence there was a pop from behind them and Derek turned to see Stiles standing on the spot, blood staining his t-shirt from what looked like a bite at his shoulder, but otherwise he was okay.

Derek rushed forward pulling Stiles into a tight hug before checking him over for any other injuries he might have missed.

“Are you okay?” Derek said with worry.

“Fine.” Stiles replied easily, evidently ignoring the bite on his shoulder. “How’s Ella?” 

“She’ll be fine.” Allison offered, “She’s got a bump on the head but otherwise fine.”

“Thanks for coming.” Jack said gratefully, “We would have been dead without you.”

“No worries.” Stiles replied, “That’s what I’m here for. I’m always going to watch your backs as best as I can.” 

“We all will.” Derek growled, “No more of this running off on your own.” He said to Stiles.

“Awww, don’t tell me you missed me already?” Stiles teased and Derek fought back a grin.

“No. I just don’t like being stuck here when you are part way across the country in some kind of trouble and I’m not there to watch your back.” 

“I wasn’t in trouble. I totally had it under control.” Stiles grinned, “But I get it.” He admitted, “And I’ll try not to run off without you, how about we make a permanent portal down here, and if I need help I’ll open it from my side and you can come through?” 

“Would that work?” Jackson asked in amazement.

“Probably.” Stiles shrugged. “Admittedly I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m pretty sure I could figure out a way to do it.” 

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Lydia agreed.

“Fine.” Derek relented, pulling at Stiles’ shirt so he could see the bite clearer, “Right now we need to get you patched up though.”

“No problem, it’s almost healed already anyway.” Stiles said, closing his eyes in concentration for a few minutes and then swiping at the blood, showing healed skin underneath. “You shouldn’t worry so much Der, you’ll get frown lines.” Stiles grinned cheekily.

“You shouldn’t make me worry so much.” Derek replied, pulling Stiles into a hug. 

“Love you.” Stiles muttered into his shoulder.

“Love you too.” Derek whispered into his ear. 

“Holding on a little too tight.” Stiles joked, pretending to gasp for breath and Derek laughed.

“I’ll always hold on to you.” Derek replied seriously and Stiles smiled at him with pure love.

“I’ll never let you go either.” He replied, leaning in for a short, sweet, tender kiss.

Derek knew there would be moments in the future where they’d both get frustrated at each other, or fall out over nothing, but he also knew that it would never lessen the love they felt for each other, and whatever threats they faced, across the country or here on their doorstep, they would face them together, they were stronger together, as mates, as a pack, they would always beat anything coming their way. 

He stared at Stiles who was now tending to Jack’s wound, healing him up as quickly as possible and smiled. This was how things were supposed to be, Stiles at his side, his pack around him, this was right. This was his family. This was home.


End file.
